Ince & Co’s Singapore managing partner Richard Lovell is leaving the firm to join Reed Smith along with Incisive Law joint managing director Mohan Subbaraman.
No date has been set for departure of the two partners, although Ince has already replaced Lovell with shipping disputes partner John Simpson, who took up the position as the firm’s Singapore managing partner yesterday (29 October).
Incisive Law has been in an alliance with Ince since March 2011.
It is unknown how many lawyers will be joining the two partners at Reed Smith although a spokesperson for the firm said that the partner hires formed part of a strategy to create a new “formal law alliance in Singapore in the near future”.
Reed Smith opened its doors in Singapore in 2012 after hiring two partners from Holman Fenwick Willan and relocating a number of lawyers. Since then the office has grown to a team of 19 lawyers including nine partners.
Earlier this month The Lawyer reported that Ince had been sounding out firms for a possible merger and had talked to Watson Farley & Williams (WFW). Ince’s profit has dipped in recent years and fell by 8 per cent from £86.7m to 79.4m during the 2014/15 financial year.
Despite the fall out from its Singapore office Ince has no plans to pull out of the region, which is a crucial hub for the shipping industry. Instead the firm has attempted to boost its office through the relocation of its Asia head of admiralty Harry Hirst from Ince’s Hong Kong office.
Finance lawyer Devandran Karunakaran has also been promoted to the firm’s partnership. Karunakaran worked in Ince’s London office for six years before returning to his home country of Singapore in 2014. Before joining Ince he worked at WFW in London.
Following the moves Ince now has a total of 13 partners and 30 fee earners specialising in shipping in Asia. In Singapore the firm now has four partners and five associates, also specialising in the shipping sector.
