Linklaters, DLA Piper and Pinsent Masons have each made a sweep of changes to their Asian leaderships.
Linklaters has announced a trio of new appointments in Southeast Asia.
It has appointed Melvin Sng as Singapore senior partner and Jonathan Horan as the firm’s new head of office, effective May 1, according to the firm.
At Linklaters since 1999, disputes partner Sng will be responsible for deepening the firm’s relationships with its clients and key stakeholders in the region and will work closely with Horan in overseeing the firm’s Southeast Asian strategy.
Horan succeeds banking lawyer Christopher Bradley, who has held Singapore managing partner role since 2016 and will soon be retiring from the firm after 25 years. Horan has left Hong Kong, where he had been based since 2007, for Singapore, where the firm has 111 lawyers including 20 partners.
The firm has also named Wanwisar Nakarat as its national managing partner in Bangkok, Thailand on a four-year term. She succeeds Pichitpon Eammongkolchai, who has held the role since 2016.
Horan and Nakarat will join Linklaters’ regional executive committee.
Elsewhere in Asia, DLA Piper has also made a leadership appointment, this time in Tokyo. Corporate partner Masahiko Ishida has been appointed as co-managing partner for Japan, the firm said in a statement. He will be leading the office alongside Lance Miller, who was the sole country managing partner prior to Ishida’s appointment.
Ishida joined DLA Piper as an associate in 2011 and later headed the firm’s corporate practice in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Pinsent Masons has appointed a new head of China as part of its broader Asia Pacific leadership shakeup, according to a firm announcement. Beijing-based financial services partner Kanyi Lui will lead the firm’s China practice, which operates out of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong with 28 lawyers. Lui replaces Sam Boyling who is relocating to the firm’s Singapore office from Beijing.
