London-based DAC Beachcroft (DACB) has opened an office in Hong Kong, marking the UK firm’s second outfit in Asia after establishing its Singapore branch in 2011.
Partners Ross Risby and Wai Yue Loh launched the new Hong Kong office, which will focus on insurance, shipping, trading and commodities work, serving clients including major international insurers such as Zurich Insurance Group and Allianz, Risby told Asia Business Law Journal.
“We also have a more limited portfolio of local insurer clients but that is something we will be looking to expand,” said Risby, a decades-long insurance partner at DACB who has relocated to Hong Kong from London.
Risby specialises in financial institutions, professional liability and directors and officers insurance disputes, and will work alongside Loh, who is also currently a joint managing director of Incisive Law, DACB’s association firm in Singapore. Loh, who will also be based in Hong Kong, specialises in shipping, trade, commodities and insurance law, and is experienced in advising Chinese clients in and outside China.
Before the Hong Kong office launch, DACB had already collaborated with Hong Kong-based law firms to better serve multinational clients in Asia. In 2018, the UK law firm and Hong Kong-based Oldham, Li & Nie (OLN) agreed on a collaboration drawing on DACB’s global insurance practice and OLN’s Hong Kong law expertise, among other benefits.
But Risby told Asia Business Law Journal that there was a client-driven need to open an office in Hong Kong, pointing to his firm’s inability to provide Hong Kong-based advice that clients had historically requested.
“We have had good relationships with firms in Hong Kong, and we are pleased to say that they provided the advice that our clients were after. But what has become apparent in recent times is that there is more of that [Hong Kong-based advice] demand from more clients,” said Risby.
In a 24 September press release, Loh was quoted as saying that trade between China and Latin America continued to grow and much of this shipping and trade activity ran through Hong Kong.
As part of DACB’s establishment of a physical presence in Hong Kong, the UK law firm has also reached an agreement with the newly created Hong Kong solicitors’ firm, CK Lee & Co, to form an association to ensure its clients can receive both international and Hong Kong law advice.
CK Lee & Co will be led by former Ince & Co Hong Kong partner Kelvin Lee – who focuses on coverage disputes and product liability insurance – and supported by senior associate Will Chan.
“We are expecting our association with CK Lee & Co to commence imminently,” said Risby.
