SJ Berwin's Asia head defects to SNR Denton
SNR Denton has strengthened its Hong Kong office with the addition of SJ Berwin’s Asia managing partner and the creation of a new Asia Pacific director of operations role.
Daniel Liew will be a member of SNR Denton’s energy, transport and infrastructure team in Asia. Admitted to practise law in England, Hong Kong and Australia, his practice focuses on on M&A, corporate, infrastructure fund, strategic alliances, banking and project finance.
Liew helped Dewey & LeBoeuf with its Hong Kong launch in 2007 before moving to SJ Berwin’s Hong Kong office to take up the Asia managing partner role from launch in 2009.
At the beginning of this year, SNR Denton opened an office in Hong Kong (4 January 2011) and entered into an association with local firm Brandt Chan & Partners, previously the Hong Kong office of Squire Sanders Hammonds legacy firm Hammonds.
Brandt Chan & Partners, in which Liew is a partner, will be fully integrated into SNR Denton upon regulatory approval. The addition of Liew has pushed the total number of partners in the joint association to eight. There are 17 other fee-earners in Hong Kong.
As part of the firm’s wider strategic ambitions to grow its presence in Asia Pacific, it has also created an Asia Pacific director of operations role in Hong Kong. The firm, with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore, is yet to announce the new appointment.
Readers' comments (8)
Anon | 6-Dec-2011 5:46 pm
SJ Berwin continues to go from strength to strength...
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2011 5:19 am
To anon5.46. If you are in HK then you might know the market and your comment may be justified, if not then your comment is, at best, uninformed.
I am not at SJB but I do work in HK and have done for some time. SJB have some very good people here. Denton's has just restarted having made a very public exit from Asia about 6 years ago so they need to rebuild their brand and quickly. It is not surprising that they have been out shopping.
What do you have to say about HS losing a handful of partners recently, or Mallesons losing two last week, or Freshfields losing a few not so long back .
The HK market is very fluid with 35 new entrants this year alone and partner moves are pretty frequent because of this. This is not news.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2011 2:23 pm
To anonymous @5.19. SJB have been in HK for a relatively short while and to lose their founding partner within 2 years is news. Comparing them with other long established firms misses the point. They are still a new office and are very much struggling by all accounts.
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Paddy Private Equity | 7-Dec-2011 3:18 pm
Come on Julian Hedgefund - what's the verdict?
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Julian Hedgefund | 7-Dec-2011 4:00 pm
I know you have all been waiting for my comments with baited breath and I will try not to disappoint you.
I agree with anonymous@2.23 - given the short time SJB have had a HK office, you would expect them to hold onto their Asia managing partner for more than 2 yrs. Even Wayne Bridge could probably keep his girlfriend for longer.
However, I don't really want to kick them in the head again when they are constantly on the canvas, it just seems too callous. Even I have something of a heart at Christmas.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2011 11:11 pm
Julian, it's very thoughtful of you to post as Paddy in order to set up a typically incisive comment but by now you really should feel sufficiently emboldened to post your beautifully crafted prose without being told to do so (by your alter ego [emphasis on ego]).
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Julian Hedgefund | 8-Dec-2011 7:23 am
The real Julian Hedgefund here - the one who does style without effort and can spell 'bated'.
Liew's track record suggests a man in a hurry. Who can blame him? No one makes it in law these days by sitting tight and hoping their firm will do right by them.
Not that SNR Denton is everyone's dream move. But from SJB one just doesn't lateral into Skadden.
Does Liew's move signify something broader about SJB? I don't know. What I do know is that people in London are waiting for Blake to retire.
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Anonymous | 13-Dec-2011 9:22 am
There has been a lot of chatter in HK about SJB messing up its foundation in HK and that its track record since then has been patchy - perhaps that is unjustified but Blake has taken the hit internally - another nail in his coffin I guess. Is this why they sent a big hitter from London to "consult" (aka direct) on the development of the Asia practice? Perhaps Danny felt that this was too much interference from the mothership. NB: to those not in the HK market, 2 years is a long time in HK; and the SNR Denton team are the rump of the Hammonds team who did not want to jump into bed with Squires Sanders. Make of that what you will.
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