Reed Smith has appointed Jieni Ji as a partner in its global regulatory enforcement group, based across the firm’s Shanghai and Hong Kong offices.
She joins from A&O Shearman, where she was of counsel and a registered foreign lawyer, having worked for legacy Shearman & Stirling for a decade before the firm’s 2024 merger, first as a senior associate and then as counsel.
Ji trained and qualified at Hogan Lovells, where she spent more than three years, and received her education in both China and the US. She is also a native Mandarin speaker with significant international experience, having qualified in New York, England and Wales, and China.
Praj Samant, Reed Smith’s Asia Pacific managing partner, said: “We are truly delighted to welcome Jieni to the firm. She is a seasoned and talented lawyer known for combining her in-depth knowledge of the law with an acute understanding of the latest enforcement trends and the business environment in Asia. This will enable her to provide highly strategic counsel to our global clients with active operations or growth plans in Asia.”
Ji will lead the strategic expansion of the firm’s compliance and regulatory practice in Greater China, advising global clients on complex cross-border issues.
Her practice focuses on advising multinational corporations on compliance with economic sanctions, export controls, anti-corruption laws, such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as data protection regulations and anti-money laundering laws.
She boasts a proven history of managing government enforcement actions, conducting internal investigations and risk assessments, and representing clients before US, UK and Asian regulatory agencies.
Beyond her regulatory expertise, Ji has extensive experience advising Asian companies on complex US litigation. She has represented many of the world’s leading multinational firms and top Asian companies across sectors including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, technology, energy, finance, industrial, automotive and life sciences.
Mike Lowell, chair of Reed Smith’s global regulatory enforcement group, said: “We are experiencing an uptick in demand for Jieni’s skillset due to an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. Her arrival strengthens our existing regulatory and enforcement offerings in Asia and enables us to continue delivering the very best service to our clients globally.”
Her arrival follows Reed Smith’s hire earlier this year of Evelyn Wang as a global corporate partner based in Hong Kong from Chinese financial institution Haitong International Securities Group, where she was an in-house lawyer, having previously worked at Kirkland & Ellis.
The expansion partially reverses a previous trend to reduce its footprint in China, having decided last year to close its Beijing office and, according to a firm statement, “strategically consolidate our resources in our Shanghai office, which closely collaborates with our offices in Hong Kong and Singapore”.
The firm also hired three lawyers from A&O Shearman in May, with the arrival of former joint Singapore managing partner Tim Beech, newly-minted partner Regina Lui and an associate.
London, meanwhile, saw the arrival of an experienced arbitration partner, Michael Darowski, from McDermott Will & Shulte. In addition to being qualified in England and Wales for more than 25 years, Darowski is also a qualified solicitor in Hong Kong, having spent several years there on secondment.
The hire follows that of another veteran, Cohen & Gresser white collar crime partner Richard Kovalevsky KC, who joined in June.
Darowski secured a $2.4bn arbitration award in 2024 in favour of his clients, UAE-based Crescent Petroleum and Crescent Gas Corporation, against the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in long-running enforcement proceedings, instructing barristers from Essex Court Chambers, 3VB, 36 Stone and Blackstone Chambers.
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