Morrison Foerster (MoFo) has recruited a senior private equity and M&A partner in Singapore from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, boosting its Asia corporate bench following defections to CMS and Baker McKenzie. 

Scott Jalowayski is rejoining the firm having spent the past eight years as a partner at Gibson Dunn, where he was a founding partner of the firm’s Asia private equity practice and co-chaired its global private equity practice group. 

Jalowayski is admitted to practice in Hong Kong and New York and brings more than 20 years’ experience advising on private equity and M&A transactions. His recent work at Gibson Dunn includes advising KKR on its investment in Privy, a digital trust provider based in Indonesia, and Japan’s Zensho Holdings on its $621m acquisition of UK-based food business The Snowfox Group. 

“Scott brings to the firm significant private equity and M&A credentials and core relationships in both Southeast Asia and Japan,” said Tabitha Saw, MoFo’s Singapore co-office managing partner. “His presence will deepen our bench in these regions and in industries that are strategic to the firm, including energy transition, renewables, technology and digital infrastructure.” 

Jalowayski spent nine years as a partner at Ropes & Gray prior to Gibson Dunn. Before that he practised at MoFo for eight years across the firm’s Tokyo and Hong Kong offices, making partner in 2008. 

His return to MoFo follows corporate partner Steven Tran exiting the firm’s Singapore office earlier this week to join CMS in Hong Kong as head of its Asia M&A practice. Last September the firm also saw a pair of M&A and private equity partners defect to Baker McKenzie in Singapore, including Shirin Tang, who had been its Singapore managing partner. 

Including Jalowayski MoFo has 21 lawyers in Singapore, according to its website, with five of the office’s eight partners working across private equity and M&A transactions. 

The firm has also boosted its ranks in Tokyo – by far its largest office in the region – recruiting former PAG general counsel Greg Salathé last year and private equity and M&A partner Stephen DeCosse from Jones Day in late 2023. 

Ken Siegel, managing partner of MoFo’s Tokyo office and head of the office’s M&A team, said the firm viewed Jalowayski as a key addition to its capabilities to assist clients investing into and from Japan around the region. 

“His decade-long experience with this market will further supplement our US and Japan M&A and PE teams,” he added. 

Going the other way, MoFo announced in July it would shutter its representative office in Beijing, becoming the latest in a slew of US firms to scale back its presence in China. The firm said at the time that the office’s four partners, all of whom were based in Shanghai or Singapore as well as Beijing, would remain at the firm following the closure. 

For its part Gibson Dunn has seen a number of partner exits in Singapore recently, including global restructuring co-head Troy Doyle, who left for Rimon Law last March. Later in the year energy partner Brad Roach moved to K&L Gates and Paul Tan, former head of arbitration for Asia, went over to One Essex Court. 

A Gibson Dunn spokesperson confirmed Jalowayski’s departure, adding the firm wished him well in his new role. 

The firm, which underlined its commitment to Singapore in a statement to GLP last September, also announced earlier this week it had hired financial regulatory partner Hagen Rooke in Singapore from Reed Smith.