The private client-focused City firm will open the office at the beginning of March. Withers tax and family specialist Samantha Bradley is relocating from London to head up the operation, while US tax partner Kurt Rademacher is also transferring from London.
Bryan Cave’s Hong Kong head, Mary Ellen Hutton, will be joining the affiliated local operation to provide Hong Kong legal advice and will also provide US tax advice alongside Rademacher.
The office will focus on private client work including estate planning, inbound and outbound investment, funds creation, family office structuring, philanthropy and art law.
The trio will be joined by Guy Facey, formerly head of commercial and international at legacy firm KSB Law, which merged with Davies Arnold Cooper at the beginning of January. He has joined Withers as a London partner, but will move to Hong Kong in March.
The firm has also hired chartered accountant Francis Lee from Walbrook Trustees in Hong Kong as executive director (Asia) and Silvia On from PricewaterhouseCoopers as an associate, while solicitor Nisha Chadha is transferring
from London.
Withers global managing director Margaret Robertson said: “We have wanted to open in Asia for some time because of the growth of privately-held wealth in Asia.”
She added: ‘Increasingly, wealthy Asian families are realising the benefits of structuring and managing their wealth through the use of family offices. More than 54% of the regions’ high net worth individuals over the age of 56 are intending to distribute 92% of their wealth to their families, so the need for planning for family wealth can
only grow.”
Commenting on Hutton’s departure, Bryan Cave’s Asia practice head, Curt Dombek, said: “Our firm remains committed to Hong Kong. We expect to continue expanding the professional services that we offer in Hong Kong and throughout Asia.”
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