Moves – 10 December 2009

Phan Thi Lieu has joined Gide Loyrette Nouel to head the French firm’s tax practice in Vietnam. She joins GLN from Deloitte in Ho Chi Minh City, and previously held similar positions with the international consulting firms Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Vietnam. With eight years of tax experience, Phan has advised a range of clients across various industries on tax and investment related issues, and her practice focuses on business tax advisory and compliance matters including international tax planning schemes, tax due diligence, enterprise restructuring and Double Tax Treaty (DTT) application. Lieu holds a Masters of Law, specialising in economic law, from the University of Law of Ho Chi Minh City.

As part of the development of its Singapore office which opened in 2008, Kennedys has appointed Gordon Smith as partner to head up the firm’s construction and engineering practice. Smith practiced for 12 years as a consultant civil/structural engineer and project manager in Australia and New Zealand on mining and industrial developments prior to becoming a lawyer, and his area of practice now focuses on the conduct of complex international arbitrations, principally relating to large infrastructure projects, including on and off shore energy installations and related insurance issues. He is a qualified arbitrator and was a founding committee member of the Singapore Society of Construction Law. Smith has resided in Asia since 1998. During this time he has held a partnership post at an international firm in Singapore, where he led that firm’s engineering and construction practice, and also held the role of head of the International Arbitration Group. He has conducted arbitrations in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Jakarta under various institutional rules.

Khaitan & Co. has appointed Manas Kumar Chaudhuri as partner to head the firm’s competition law practice from its New Delhi office. Chaudhuri holds a Bachelor of Science, a MA in History, an LLB and an LLM, and has litigation and advisory experience in both academic and corporate settings, primarily in competition law and regulatory regimes extending to the infrastructure sector and intellectual property rights. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in International Law, Institutions and Diplomacy, an Advance Diploma in Chinese Studies and a Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management. Chaudhuri has held several high profile positions with the Government of India and State Government of West Bengal including roles as a Civil Judge, Joint Director (Legal) and Additional Registrar.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has announced the appointment of Niping Wu as a partner in the firm’s corporate group. Wu has joined the firm from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and will continue to focus her practice on M&A and private equity transactions in China from Orrick’s Beijing office. Having been practicing in the US and China for over a decade, she is well-versed in counseling both Chinese and international companies throughout Asia on private equity investments, cross-border mergers and acquisitions (including foreign direct investment into China), corporate finance and capital markets transactions. Her clients include Bank of America, Nokia, TPG, MBK Partners, Asian Direct Capital Management, The Stanley Works, Precision Castparts Corp, Golden State Environmental Group and Watchdata Technologies. Wu received her JD from Yale Law School and her undergraduate degree from Yale University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and is an active author and speaker, having published several articles and spoken on the development of the Chinese legal and regulatory systems.