HFW has boosted its shipping practice with the hire of Singapore partner Christopher Metcalf, who joins this September from Clyde & Co, subject to local regulatory approvals. Metcalf’s practice spans a wide range of contentious and non-contentious matters in the shipping, offshore and oil and gas sectors, including charter party, COA, bills of lading and other commercial agreements. He also advises insurers throughout South East Asia on coverage and subrogation, and has significant experience on litigation, mediation and arbitration in local and international venues. His clients include vessel owners and charterers, offshore service contractors, oil majors, mining companies, traders, bunker suppliers, P&I Clubs, and other marine and offshore insurers.
Maples Group has expanded its global shipping team with the addition of Jonathan Silver as a partner in its law firm in Hong Kong. He brings nearly 20 years’ experience in the fields of shipping and banking and finance, having previously led the shipping group at Norton Rose Fulbright for the North Asia region, where he also co-led the Republic of Marshall Islands law practice. Silver will lead the group’s Asia shipping team, providing BVI, Cayman Islands and Marshall Islands advice, entity formation and fiduciary services to clients worldwide. His vast experience covers shipping finance and other shipping matters, including loans, leasing, private equity, sale and purchase, building contracts, charter parties, guarantees, joint ventures, pooling and management. He also has substantial experience advising on general banking and finance transactions, such as unsecured lending, working capital loans and structured trade and commodity finance. Silver is proficient in Mandarin Chinese and speaks conversational Cantonese. He is also a notary public appointed in Hong Kong.
Yoon & Yang has hired Edward Dhong, a seasoned corporate attorney from IBM. Prior to joining the firm, Dhong spent 15 years at IBM as head of legal investigations for Asia Pacific, Greater China Group and Japan, where he supervised lawyers and investigators in investigations on potential fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and other corporate misconduct. His earlier role at IBM included oversight of all legal matters in Korea, as senior regional counsel / general counsel leading a team of lawyers and other professionals. He was also IBM’s Trust and Compliance Officer, responsible for implementing IBM’s corporate compliance programs and initiatives throughout Korea, as well as the lead lawyer managing litigation and M&A activities across Asia Pacific and complex service transactions in Korea. Prior to IBM, Dhong was a corporate and commercial attorney at the San Francisco / Silicon Valley offices of Baker & McKenzie and Coudert Brothers. His practice focused on strategic M&A, investments and corporate finance activities. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and received his JD from UC Hastings College of Law in 1996. Dhong has been a member of the California Bar Association since 1996. He served as the chairman of the In-House Counsel Form, Korea’s largest in-house lawyers group, from 2017 to 2018, and as a co-chair of the Compliance & Ethics Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea from 2015 to 2016. He was appointed as an adviser to the Korean government’s Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in 2016, during the final adoption of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act in Korea. Dhong is also currently a director of the International Association of Korean Lawyers and an adviser to Korea University’s American Law Centre.
