Withers, the international law firm, has bolstered its Asian family practice with five key hires in Hong Kong.

Veronica Chan, April Wong, Billy Ko and William Huynh all join the Hong Kong practice from other law firms, while Tim Carpenter has been relocated from the Withers London office. The company's 15-strong family team in Hong Kong advises clients on issues pertaining to families, such as divorce, prenuptial and postnuptial agreement, forum shopping, child custody and cross-border disputes.

"The newly appointed Chinese team members will further expand and strengthen our offering to the growing Chinese high net worth market," said Marcus Dearle, managing partner for the Hong Kong office, in a statement. 

In 2012, the firm promoted Stacey Devoy to partner and Sharon Ser to regional senior partner to boost its Asian family practice. This happened at just about the same time it opened an office in Singapore. It also appointed Rita Ku as the first Chinese partner globally to broaden the company's Chinese client base. Withers has over 100 partners and more than 300 lawyers worldwide specialising in tax law, trusts, estate planning, family law and other related legal issues.

Withers has been actively expanding its Asian presence in the past months, most recently relocating one of its top lawyers in London, Denis Petkovic, to lead its new Asian corporate and finance practice in Hong Kong. In July, the firm bolstered its Asian wealth planning arm with the appointments of Philip Munro and Fernando Gandioli to its Singapore branch.