Bird & Bird bolsters its Corporate practice with appointment of James Fong as Partner in Hong Kong

James joins from Mayer Brown JSM where he was a corporate partner. He is an experienced corporate finance lawyer and primarily advises sponsors and issuers on capital market transactions. He also has considerable experience advising on different types of corporate finance matters including block trades, rights issues, takeover, private equities, listing of exchange traded funds, cash offer, joint ventures and regulatory compliance. James will work closely with our existing Hong Kong equity capital markets (ECM) and Corporate team headed by Wing On Chui as well as the established teams in Beijing and Shanghai.  

Bird & Bird has undergone a significant strategic expansion of its Corporate team in the Asia-Pac region with the recent appointment of Anthony Latimer and Steve Johns in the Sydney office. Anthony in particular has a solid China outbound practice with clients across many of our sectors, providing a pan-Asian offering for the firm. Bird & Bird has also recently signed a cooperation agreement with AllBright, one of China's top five domestic law firms which is already providing significant opportunities for the region including our Corporate finance teams in Singapore headed by Marcus Chow. 

Justin Walkey, Chairman of Asia-Pacific and Head of China at Bird & Bird comments: "A key part of our growth strategy in China is to boost our transactional work but also to build on the firm's regional client base. I am very excited to welcome James to our office in Hong Kong. We have a strong and established base in Hong Kong and our new relationship with AllBright will allow our global network to support the many domestic Chinese companies expanding out into other international markets."

Peter Veranneman and Stefano Silvestri, joint heads of the International Corporate Group at Bird & Bird say: "James' appointment is a significant boost to the firm's Corporate practice.  We look forward to him joining our team as this will not only increase our ability to advise clients on capital market  transactions across China but it will also strengthen our Corporate capabilities around the world."

James adds: "I am thrilled to join such a well-regarded firm such as Bird & Bird. The firm's international footprint and sector-focused approach offers me the ideal platform to better assist clients in the Corporate practice. I am also very much looking forward to working with my new Chinese and international colleagues."