David Renton is joining us as partner in our international energy sector group and corporate practice group. He is the eighth new partner to our Asian offices so far this year and will be based in our Hong Kong office.
David joins us from Baker Botts. He has twenty years’ experience in Hong Kong and China with additional experience in Philippines, Singapore and India. He focuses on energy and infrastructure projects, including their environmental issues. David has helped shape the development of environmental impact assessment in Hong Kong, advising on a recent landmark case involving the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which drew the public’s attention to alleged deficiencies in the assessment of the air quality impacts of major construction projects.
Energy is our most rapidly expanding sector group, our corporate team has welcomed nine new partners so far this year and we are expanding significantly in the Asian region.
Marcus Vass, head of our transactional group in China comments: “David’s expertise is an excellent fit for us, with his extensive experience in our most rapidly growing sector area. We are seeing increasing opportunities for transactional work in the region and David will play a significant role in helping us meet our aim to grow our Asian offices to represent 20% of the firm in the next five years.”
David Renton said: “Bird & Bird’s strong capability in Asia puts them in a good position to take advantage of the growing opportunities here and their leading expertise in technology gives them the cutting edge in the energy sector, where the focus is increasingly on cleantech and renewable solutions. I am excited to join a firm with such great opportunities.”
Of our eight new partners in Asia so far this year, David is the fifth for our international corporate team, including Pádraig Walsh, who arrived this week, following our announcement of his appointment earlier this year.
