Clifford Chance boosts capital markets team

UK law firm Clifford Chance has hired a senior associate from rival Freshfields in Singapore. Joan Janssen, who has worked in Freshfields' Singapore office since 1997, joins as a counsel in the capital markets group.

Janssen is qualified in England and Singapore, and specializes in securities transactions. Her arrival is Clifford Chance's second significant capital markets hire in Asia this summer after Paul Chu joined in June from CSFB. He was second-in-command, under Greg Park, in the bank's former Asian asset-backed securities group. That team has now been significantly scaled down.

Clifford Chance operates a joint venture in Singapore with Wong Partnership, a respected local firm, which allows it to advise on both Singaporean and international legal matters, although some aspects of local law remain off the radar for the joint ventures. Singapore's legal market is still not as open as Hong Kong's but it does allow international firms to emulate the one-stop shop that they claim their clients prefer.

"Our clients value talented lawyers with both international expertise and a deep understanding of the local markets," says Paul Kruger, head of Clifford Chance's Asian capital markets group. "With Joan's extensive experience in the Singapore market she will be a valuable addition to our team."