Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS) has boosted its Hong Kong office with a team hire from Stephenson Harwood, in a move the firm said would give it the largest private client team in Asia.
The five-strong team is led by Kevin Lee, who previously led Stephenson Harwood’s private client practice in Greater China and has joined CRS as head of private client in Asia. Moving over with him are partner Wei Kang, two associates and a legal executive.
The team’s hire will take CRS to 10 partners in Hong Kong and comes amid broader investment in its Asia practice that saw it add partners across Singapore, Hong Kong and London last year in practice areas including corporate, funds and international arbitration.
CRS’s head of Asia, Simon Green, said the hire of Lee and his team “gives us a considerable market advantage as we now have the biggest private client team in Asia”.
He added: “The team will enhance our support for clients with increasingly international needs, particularly in the ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) and family office space where demand across Asia continues to grow.”
Jeffrey Lee, private client partner and head of CRS’s Singapore office, added that the hire “reinforces our ability to provide integrated private client advice across Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, the US and Canada, working as one team to support families and founders wherever they and their assets are based”.
Lee has joined the firm as a consultant after eight years as a partner at Stephenson Harwood, before which he practised at leading Chinese firm Zhong Lun.
Recognised as a top private wealth lawyer in the region, his practice covers cross‑border tax and trust structuring, succession planning, asset preservation and family governance for clients including prominent Asian families and institutional trustees, listed company founders, UHNWIs, family offices and entrepreneurs. He is admitted to practise in Hong Kong, Canada and England and Wales.
Meanwhile, Kang, who is dual qualified in Canada and Hong Kong, advises high-net-worth families and trustees on matters including family trusts, Canadian tax and succession planning across jurisdictions. She joined Stephenson Harwood in 2021 as a partner after two years as an of counsel at DLA Piper and earlier practised at Hong Kong independent Tiang & Partners.
Over the course of last year, CRS also hired corporate partners Francis Li and Wendy Fong from Squire Patton Boggs and funds partner Gaven Cheong from Tiang & Partners in Hong Kong, alongside a trio of partner hires in Singapore across international arbitration and corporate. International arbitration partner Jue Jun Lu also joined the Asia practice in London from DLA Piper.
The firm’s focus on its Asia practice was underlined by it recording 84% revenue growth in the region in the financial year to 30 April 2025, as global revenue grew 11% to just over £242m, fuelled by private capital and increasing international work. Profit per equity partner at the 600-lawyer firm grew from £661k to £681k in the same period.
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