Squire Sanders has hired three new partners in Asia, one of whom will head a new office in Singapore.
Ignatius Hwang, Mao Tong and Peter Chow were formerly partners in Singapore and Hong Kong for St. Louis-based Bryan Cave. Hwang, previously Singapore managing partner for Bryan Cave, will also lead Squire Sanders' office there. Tong and Chow will join the Cleveland-based firm's Hong Kong office.
Squire Sanders' Singapore office is expected to open next month, pending regulatory approvals.
Hwang, a project finance lawyer, joined Bryan Cave in 2008 from the Singapore office of Australian firm Freehills, where he headed the Asia energy and resources practice.
Tong, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, was the managing partner of Bryan Cave's Hong Kong office. His move marks a return to Squire Sanders, where he was Hong Kong co-managing partner until 2005, when he left to join the firm then known as Hogan & Hartson. He moved to Bryan Cave in 2008. He focuses on the energy and mining sectors, and advises on inbound investment into China.
Chow previously headed Bryan Cave's Asia dispute resolution practice out of Hong Kong. He primarily advises on energy and resources, infrastructure, international trade and maritime disputes. Chow joined Bryan Cave in 2008 from the Hong Kong office of Baker & McKenzie, where he was a special counsel.
Squire Sanders recently launched an independent office in Perth after breaking away from Minter Ellison last August. Singapore will be the 1,300-lawyer firm's sixth Asia office.
Bryan Cave's website lists one associate and no partners in its Hong Kong office following the departures. The firm did not respond by press time to a request for comment.
