Charles Russell Speechlys has deepened its commitment to Hong Kong by registering to practise local law as it unveils five senior hires across its international network including four partners.

The top 30 UK practice relaunched as a Hong Kong law firm yesterday having initially opened to practise international law in 2017. It has also hired Ray NG as a registered foreign lawyer in Hong Kong from Ogier, where he was head of Asia dispute resolution.

Elsewhere across its international network – which is geared towards its top tier private client practice – four partners are joining, including two other disputes specialists, boosting its “international fraud, asset recovery, restructuring, investigations and private wealth disputes expertise”, according to the firm.

Joining the Dubai office, which also opened in 2017, is Sara Sheffield, who advises on arbitrations and commercial disputes in the English High Court, the Dubai International Financial Centre Court and the Abu Dhabi Global Market Court.

The former HFW partner focuses on financial crime, fraud, asset tracing and recovery and contentious insolvency.

The Geneva office, meanwhile, will be boosted in January by the arrival of white-collar crime and sports law partner Pierre Bydzovsky from Borel & Barbey.

The other two hires are non-contentious lawyers. Loyens & Loeff counsel and investment funds specialist Tobias Niehl is joining as a partner in Luxembourg, helping to fill the gap left by the departure of office head David Louis and a team of three other lawyers for KPMG Legal over the summer.

London sees the arrival of veteran Bircham Dyson Bell tax planning, trusts, philanthropy and charities lawyer Simon Weil.

Managing Partner Simon Ridpath said: “Despite a challenging year, the firm has navigated through the disruption caused by the pandemic and remains on track with our strategy and these five new hires will increase our capabilities in key growth areas across our international office network.”

In May, fellow top ranked London private client firm Mishcon de Reya chose Singapore as the location for its second office, targeting private client work across South East Asia.

This year has seen Orrick and Osborne Clarke announce decisions to pull out of Hong Kong after strategic reviews.