Reed Smith has hired energy and infrastructure disputes partner Timothy Cooke from Stephenson Harwood in Singapore as the firm continues to expand its headcount in the Southeast Asian city-state.

Cooke joins Reed Smith’s energy and natural resources group along with two associates – Germaine Chia and Khyati Raniwala. Cooke’s practice focuses on energy, infrastructure, construction and engineering disputes. He has extensive experience advising both international and Asian clients with investments across Asia, including jurisdictions such as Vietnam, Indonesia, China, India, Malaysia and Myanmar, as well as in Singapore itself.

Kyri Evagora, Reed Smith’s Asia managing partner, said: “Tim is an exceptionally talented lawyer who will prove a valuable asset to our clients. His arrival with the two associates reflects our regional strategy of hiring and growing the best talent in the market to meet the evolving needs of our clients.”

Cooke departs Stephenson Harwood after four years – his fourth firm in a 15-year career in Asia having previously worked at Morgan Lewis Stamford, Clyde & Co and Baker McKenzie. He also spent more than two years at Walkers in the Cayman Islands, which further supplements his skill-set with Asian clients.

Cooke is a barrister, having trained at commercial Chancery set New Square Chambers. His additional London experience with Dentons will also benefit the US firm, as will his strong advocacy credentials and awareness of litigation funding, including with Omni Bridgeway.

He is also increasingly recognised for his work as an arbitrator, not least with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. Last year he developed the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ (CIArb) Guidelines for Witness Conferencing in International Arbitration.

Praj Samant, chair of Reed Smith’s energy and natural resources group, hailed Cooke’s ‘wealth of experience and in depth relevant expertise’.

Cooke is the latest arrival in a spate of hires by the US firm in Singapore, which added corporate partners Monoj Purushothaman and Simon Spells and their teams from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in January, bringing the current headcount locally to 14 partners.

However, Reed Smith lost successive commodities partners to HFW in the city-state, with disputes specialist Dan Perera joining former Reed Smith Singapore managing partner Peter Zaman, while shipping partners Barry Stimpson and Jessica Kenworthy also left Reed Smith for Squire Patton Boggs in November 2019.