Clifford Chance’s annual round of partnership elections has added three lawyers to its partnership in Asia Pacific, out of a total of 20 new partners.
Matthew Buchanan, Melissa Ng and Jiahua Ni will join the firm’s 86-strong partnership in the region tomorrow. Buchanan is a construction and infrastructure project finance specialist, and Melissa Ng is a corporate M&A adviser, both based in Singapore. Jiahua Ni is a banking and finance specialist in Shanghai.
“They have all shown a strong commitment to exceptional client service and already play leadership roles in their practice areas,” says Peter Charlton, Clifford Chance's regional managing partner for Asia Pacific.
The number of new partners is slightly down on last year, when the firm elected 23 to the partnership. The Asia count remains the same as in 2012, but is down on the bumper crop of lawyers made up in 2011, when 12 of its 23 new partners were based in the region.
Buchanan specialises in advising clients on the development of procurement strategies and in the preparation and negotiation of construction and related contracts for major energy and infrastructure projects. He joined Clifford Chance in 2006 and worked in London and Beijing before moving to Singapore in 2009.
Ng joined Clifford Chance in London in 2002 and relocated to Singapore in 2004. She has broad M&A experience across South and Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Indonesia. Most recently, she advised Malaysia’s SapuraKencana Petroleum on the $2.9 billion integration of its tender rig business with Seadrill, one of the biggest M&A transactions in Southeast Asia this year.
Ni has experience in a variety of cross-border and Chinese domestic financing transactions. He advises big Chinese banks in their offshore project financings in South America and Africa, as well as representing international banks in cross-border lending into China and domestic financing by Chinese banks. Before joining Clifford Chance in 2007, he worked at King & Wood for seven years.
The promotions will bring the total number of partners in the firm to 589.
