Just over a month after losing Rocky Lee to Cadwalader in Beijing, DLA Piper has lost a further two partners from its Hong Kong office : Gigi Cheah and Justin Davidson, former co-heads of the firm’s TMT/IP practice, have defected to Norton Rose.
The aggressively expansionist Norton Rose Hong Kong today announced that Gigi Cheah and Justin Davidson are to join their Hong Kong global intellectual property, communications, media and technology team as significant lateral partner level hires to develop that practice in Asia.
Cheah, a non contentious IP and technology lawyer, is noted for her work in the technology procurement, licensing, outsourcing and life sciences spaces while Davidson is considered an expert on transactional IP work, life sciences and IP disputes and prosecutions. At DLA, the pair worked for clients such as GE Money, Boeing, Accenture and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
The appointment of Cheah and Davidson brings the total number of partners across the firm’s 13 Asia-Pacific offices to over 200.
But while Norton Rose is growing its practice in the region, the same is not so easily said of DLA Piper. In addition to the departures of Lee, Cheah and Davidson, the firm saw corporate partner Bertrand Theaud leave its Shanghai office to join Winston & Strawn, and lead lawyer of its Mainland China international trade and competition practice, Liu Cheng, depart for PRC heavyweight King & Wood.
Last year, the firm lost 18% of its partners from its Hong Kong and Singapore offices.ALB
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