Clifford Chance, the international law firm, has added three new partners to its Asian franchise, bringing its regional total to 86 partners as of 1 May 2013.

Matthew Buchanan and Melissa Ng join the Singapore office as construction and infrastructure project finance specialist and M&A corporate advisor, respectively. Jiahua Ni joins the Shanghai branch as banking and finance expert.

The firm, which has a network of 35 offices worldwide, promoted the new Asia-based partners from its global network, in addition to the around 17 others who were given new positions at its other branches.

Buchanan has worked on a range of projects throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and has been with the company since 2006. Ng joined Clifford Chance in London in 2002 and then relocated to Singapore in 2004 to specialise in M&A and joint venture transactions across various sectors. Ni joined the company in 2007, specialising in cross-border and Chinese domestic financing transactions for Chinese and international banks.

Its international partner total now stands at 589.

"[We are] leading development efforts in a wide range of markets beyond the 'home office' into Scandinavia, the Middle East, Latin America and South East Asia," said David Childs, managing partner, in a statement.

Clifford Chance's Asian branch network covers Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. It has over 400 lawyers in Asia-Pacific alone.