Mukhit Yeleuov has joined Kinstellar in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He was formerly a national partner at Dechert.

Bjorn Gehle is leaving Pinsent Masons to join Reed Smith as a partner in the firm’s arbitration practice in Dubai. 

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has appointed Kunal Gupta as a partner in its New Delhi office. Prior to joining the firm, Mr Kunal was a partner with Grant Thornton.

Kuala Lumpur-headquartered Zaid Ibrahim & Co has welcomed Dato’ Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin as a senior litigation partner. He joins the firm from Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak.

White & Case’s associated law firm in Indonesia, Witara Cakra Advocates, has appointed Kristo Molina and Fajar Ramadhan as capital markets and banking partners. Both join from Indonesian firm Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung, which works in association with HSF.

Two partners have moved from King & Wood Mallesons in Beijing to Jones Day. Dirk Walker and Dina Yin have been with KWM since 2012 and bring the headcount at Jones Day in Beijing to 18, including six partners.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has hired Steve Kwok, the US embassy’s former resident legal adviser in Beijing, as a partner in its Hong Kong office. He will focus on internal investigations, US regulatory enforcement matters, and trial and appellate litigation in US federal and state courts.

Chen Leiming is leaving Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to join Alibaba Group’s financial arm Ant Financial as global general counsel and senior VP. He will be based in Hong Kong.

Joshua Zimmerman is leaving Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy to join Proskauer Rose as a partner in the firm’s corporate practice in Hong Kong.

Bird & Bird has recruited dispute resolution partners Robert Rhoda in Hong Kong and Jonathan Choo in Singapore.

Rod Brown is leaving Latham & Watkins to join Mayer Brown as a partner in firm’s corporate and securities practice in Singapore.

Benjamin Hirasawa is leaving DLA Piper to join Clyde & Co as a partner in the firm’s hospitality practice in Singapore. He will also serve as the Asia-Pacific hospitality head. 

Nabarro has expanded its Singapore office with the hire of Matthew Nortcliff as a partner in the funds and indirect real estate team; he will lead the Asian funds practice.

Withers has hired a team of Sydney and Singapore based corporate and commercial lawyers from hotel and hospitality specialist firm Ryan Lawyers. Hotel expert Robert Williams will lead Withers’ Asia-Pacific hotels practice, having previously led Ryan Lawyers’ Australian business. He will be joined by partner Justin Gross, consultant Chris Greiner and associate Vivian Chen.

Anthony Hague is leaving Simmons & Simmons to join Ashurst as a counsel of the firm in Tokyo.