US firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood has raided Simmons & Simmons in Hong Kong to give its China practice a litigation capability

Simmons senior associate Charles Allen has joined Sidley as a consultant together with two other lawyers who will join as associates.
Allen and his team, which specialises in high-value commercial litigation and arbitration, started at Sidley’s Hong Kong office last week. Initially the team will work closely with Sidley’s corporate finance practice, although its aim is to develop a standalone litigation practice. The corporate finance team has five partners and a further 25 lawyers.
Sidley has an impressive litigation capacity in the US and it is understood that the move to open a Hong Kong litigation practice was driven by existing clients.
Allen said: “It’s rare to be given the opportunity to develop a litigation practice for a major international law firm.”
Earlier this month, Sidley raided the Beijing office of Denton Wilde Sapte, taking partner Tang Zhengyu and several associates for its Shanghai office.