Allen & Overy adds new partner to office in Hong Kong

Allen & Overy (A&O) has expanded its Asia-Pacific funds and asset management group with the appointment of James Ford as a partner at its Hong Kong office.

Ford joined A&O from O’Melveny & Myers Hong Kong, where he was global head of its Investment Funds practice. In a statement, A&O said that Ford is a “highly recognised lawyer in the market and commended by leading legal directories for his technical ability and commerciality.”

At A&O, Ford will focus on clients active in private equity and other alternative asset strategies, including real estate, credit, and infrastructure.

“We have significantly grown our alternative investment platform and James’ hire strengthens our ability to provide a full service offering to our institutional investor and asset manager client base in the region,” said Vicki Liu, managing partner at A&O in Hong Kong. “He is a recognised leader in the Asia-Pacific region and we’re excited to welcome James to Allen & Overy.”

“Asia-Pacific continues to receive an increasing amount of interest from investors, as seen by the increasingly large dedicated Asia funds raised over the past couple of years,” said Matt Huggett, global head of A&O’s funds and asset management group. “We have also seen the secondary market heat up in the current climate, so we have no doubt James’ expertise will be of great interest and value to our clients. His addition to our funds and asset management group complements our global offering where we have market-leading teams across key financial hubs in the UK, Europe, Luxembourg, the US, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East.”