Pinsents raids A&O for Asia-Pacific push

Pinsent Masons has boosted its Hong Kong office with a raid on Allen & Overy for partner Simon Irvine.

Irvine is a project finance specialist and joins Pinsents from Allen & Overy’s Singapore office.

His arrival boosts the number of Pinsent’s partners in the Asia-Pacific region to 12 partners and 40 lawyers.

Irvine’s hire is part of a plan to grow the banking and finance team across the firm, and the department now has 15 partners.

Last month Pinsents hired projects ace David Nash from Shepherd & Wedderburn.

Asia senior partner John Bishop said: “We are responding to client demand by developing our finance and corporate capability.”