Goodwin has expanded its Hong Kong private investment funds team with the addition of Phil Culhane as a partner. Culhane previously worked at an international law firm, and is among the senior statesmen in the Asia fund formation space. He has over 30 years of experience in advising on the formation of private investment funds. He has particular expertise with representing Asia-based alternative asset managers, from start-up first time funds to established multi-strategy firms.
Stephenson Harwood has strengthened its international private wealth capabilities with the arrival of partner Suzanne Johnston in the firm’s Singapore office. Johnston specializes in international tax and wealth planning, with a focus on advising high net worth individuals, professional trustees, family offices and private banks based in the UK and Asia. She has in-depth experience across different practice areas within private wealth, and in multiple jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific region, bolstered by having lived and worked in the region for nearly a decade. She joins from UBS.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges has added Kathleen Aka as a partner in its restructuring practice, based in the Hong Kong office. Aka joins from the Hong Kong office of another major global law firm, where she was a partner. She has extensive experience advising debtors and creditors on contentious and non-contentious restructuring and insolvency matters in the Asia-Pacific region. Aka is skilled in guiding clients through the most challenging and complex processes of financial restructuring, creditor enforcement, formal insolvency, insolvency litigation, distressed M&A, and distressed secondary debt trading. Her clients include bondholders, trustees, credit and distressed investment funds, banks, insolvency practitioners, shareholders and distressed corporations. Her industry experience covers banking and financial services, insurance and reinsurance, health, infrastructure, energy, mining and agriculture, shipping and transportation, retail and property.
