Hong Kong's Tiang & Partners has hired intellectual property (IP) lawyer Chiang Ling Li from Jones Day to head up its IP practice. 

Li arrives at the firm, which is allied to PwC Legal's Singapore arm, as a partner after 13 years practising at Jones Day, where she specialised in China IP and pharmaceutical law. She moved to the US firm’s Hong Kong arm from Baker McKenzie’s office in the same city in 2007, and brings with her more than two decades of experience handling a range of IP issues in Hong Kong and mainland China, including patents, trade secrets, copyright, unfair competition, 3-D marks and well-known marks. 

Throughout her career, Li has been appointed as an arbitrator by arbitration centers in Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Centre. 

She is also actively pursuing enforcement of IP infringement in China, and has worked closely alongside industry organisations lobbying for legal reform, including those concerning patent linkage and data exclusivity. 

Tiang & Partners was established in 2017 as part of PwC’s expansion into the Asian legal services market under the stewardship of David Tiang, a former Beijing-based partner at King & Wood Mallesons. 

The firm is associated with PwC’s foreign licensed law practice in Singapore, PwC Legal International, and collaborates closely with PwC’s allied firms in China, Rui Bai Law Firm in Beijing and Xin Bai Law Firm in Shanghai. 

Li said joining Tiang & Partners would allow her to expand the scope of her practice by collaborating with PwC’s multidisciplinary network of professionals across its 20 offices in 15 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Michelle Taylor, a partner at Tiang & Partners and a member of PwC’s global legal leadership team, said: “We are thrilled to have Chiang to join us to build our IP practice. Her deep IP experience, market reputation and unparalleled expertise in the life sciences and healthcare sectors will significantly boost our legal capabilities and support our strategic growth in Greater China.”

In other Hong Kong news, Ben McQuhae & Co, an ESG-focused boutique firm launched this year by ex-Jones Day partner Ben McQuhae, recently became the first offshore buyer of China’s carbon emissions offset credits in a bid to help demonstrate the national scheme’s market potential and promote Hong Kong as an emissions trading centre. 

Other firms to make plays in the region this year include RPC, which hired partner Andrea Randall from leading Hong Kong independent Gall to help it set up a local employment practice, and Gibson Dunn, which snapped up a regulatory quarter from Herbert Smith Freehills to boost ints financial services regulatory practice in Asia.

In February, KPMG’s Thailand office opened a legal services unit following on from launches in Hong Kong and Shanghai last year.