The project finance team have joined from HSF offices across Australia and Asia and will launch White & Case offices in Melbourne and Sydney. It consists of: HSF Asia head of finance Brendan Quinn, head of projects Andrew Clark, finance partners Alan Rosengarten, Josh Sgro, Tim Power, Jared Muller and Joanne Draper in Melbourne, Joel Rennie in Sydney, Fergus Smith in Hong Kong and Matthew Osborne in Singapore.

‘Disappointed’

HSF joint-CEOs in Mark Rigotti and Sonya Leydecker were ‘disappointed’ by the move, but added that the firm continues to have a ‘strong 100-partner infrastructure and projects practice globally.’

White & Case in Asia

White & Case has been building its presence in Asia-Pacific since March 2015, when it relocated global head of banking Eric Berg to be the head of Asia in Singapore. In May of that year the firm also opened a base in Seoul and announced a new alliance with Jakarta-based firm Witara Cakra Advocates, though according to The Lawyer’s Asia-Pacific 150 2016, the number of lawyers in its Asia offices dropped from 176 in 2012 to 142 in 2015. It also closed an office in Kazakhstan and Turkey this summer.

Sources: Legal Business; The Lawyer