Following the April closure of KPMG’s Hong Kong legal arm SF Lawyers, the firm’s former managing partner and founder, Shirley Fu, has joined Charles Russell Speechlys’ office in the city, bringing a team of three.
Fu specialises in M&A and has two decades’ experience in advising on corporate and commercial matters in China and other parts of Asia. Being a dual-qualified legal and accounting professional, she provides legal advice in Hong Kong, the mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area, New South Wales in Australia, England and Wales, and New Zealand. She is also knowledgeable in Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands laws.
Before setting up SF Lawyers, Fu practised at Harneys and Maples Group.
Joining Charles Russell Speechlys alongside Fu are senior legal manager Tom Wong and senior associates Rachel Kan and Bessie Chow.
The firm’s head of Asia, Simon Green, said the addition of Fu would contribute to Charles Russell Speechlys’ goal of becoming the leading law firm focusing on private capital in Asia.
Founded in 2019, SF Lawyers provided a full-service legal practice – except for litigation consulting – with KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms.
In January, another Big Four peer EY closed its legal arm, LC Lawyers, in Hong Kong. In mainland China, affiliated firms associated with the Big Four have been shut down since the Ministry of Justice tightened co-operation with foreign capital in the country’s legal sector.
