Standard Chartered bolsters in-house with IT law hires

Standard Chartered has bulked up its IT law capability with the appointment of private practice lawyers in its Singapore and London offices in an effort to broaden its in-house team.

The investment bank has hired associate Denis Low from London-based technology boutique Kemp Little. Stephanie Bennett, an associate from the Hong Kong office of Bird & Bird, will be joining in July. Both lawyers will be based in the Singapore operation of Standard Chartered.

The bank has also converted its London secondee placement into a permanent position and recruited IT specialist Daniel Banks from Berwin Leighton Paisner for the role.

Standard Chartered head of legal technology Mark Thomas told The Lawyer: "We used to have secondees who would learn the business and return to private practice so we expanded the team to make it a permanent position."

Thomas says the addition of a new IT lawyer will also allow other members of his team to concentrate on IP work.

The bank is also transferring Hong Kong IT specialist Howard Smith to London. Thomas heads of a team of six lawyers and reports to group head of legal David Brimacombe.