Top 20 US law firm Goodwin Procter has opened doors in Singapore and promoted 58 lawyers to partner in its largest round to date.

The new office is Goodwin’s second location in Asia after Hong Kong and is intended to serve clients raising, deploying and lending capital in the region and globally, the firm said. 

Private investment funds partner Greg Barclay has relocated from Hong Kong to chair the office, which will initially include private equity partner Abhishek Krishnan and counsel Ananth Lakshman, both also previously based in Hong Kong, and a team of associates. 

“Singapore is a key hub for the technology, life sciences, real estate, private equity and financial services industries for Southeast Asia and India,” said Yash Rana, chair of Goodwin’s Asia practice and co-chair of the global private equity practice. “Our new office in Singapore is important to our strategy of working with investors and companies in these key sectors.”

Goodwin’s Hong Kong team will support the new office and clients in Singapore and the wider region, the firm said, including private investment funds partner Elyn Xing who will spend significant time in Singapore over the coming months.

The launch follows Goodwin topping Refinitiv’s global M&A legal advisor rankings by deal volume in 2021 and H1 2022, working on a total of 1,616 deals worth $245.7bn during that period.

“Goodwin’s global platform is uniquely positioned to serve clients at the busy intersection of capital and innovation, and Singapore – a magnet for both start-ups and capital flows – is at the heart of this intersection,” said Barclay, whose practice focuses on the formation of and investment into private equity, venture capital, credit, infrastructure, real estate and hybrid funds. 

Krishnan and Lakshman have a broad-based transactional practice with an emphasis on advising companies, sponsors and promoters in cross-border M&A, buyouts, early and late stage venture capital and growth equity investments, among other corporate transactions.

Meantime, Goodwin’s latest partner promotions round skews heavily toward its private equity, life sciences and technology practices. The 58-strong round, which is evenly split in terms of gender, is the firm’s largest yet, and marks a significant step up on last October figure of 40.

The private equity team’s 10 new partners – the most of any practice group – are spread across the firm’s US offices and London, where Tessa Agar and Andrew Pollock moved up the ranks. Their promotions reflect Goodwin’s efforts to build its private equity platform in Europe, the firm having launched an office in Munich in May led by private equity specialist Jan Schinköth, who moved over last year from Sidley Austin, one of a series of European partner raids on its US rival. 

Technology welcomed nine new partners, four of whom – Kristin Gerber, Margaret Hickey, Daniel Isaacs and Tevia Pollard – are based in Goodwin’s hometown of Boston with the rest spread across the firm’s offices in California, New York and Cambridge in the UK, where venture capital financings specialist Adam Thatcher moved up the ranks. 

Meantime, life sciences saw eight lawyers promoted, five of whom are based in Boston, a global life sciences hub, and one apiece in New York, Washington DC and London. 

The real estate team saw six lawyers move up the ranks, while IP litigation gained four across Boston and New York, in a move that will go some way to replenish the firm’s bench strength in those cities following the departure of a five-partner IP litigation team earlier this year for Allen & Overy. 

Private investment funds gained three new partners while financial industry, securities litigation and ERISA and executive compensation gained two apiece. Twelve practice areas including IP, employment, financial restructuring and global trade each welcomed one new partner. 

Like last year, litigation emerged as a strong theme, with 11 lawyers moving up across areas including appellate, securities and commercial litigation as well as IP. Among them was Hayes Hyde, whose promotion in the white collar and securities litigation team in San Francisco followed Goodwin hiring Baker Botts’ California litigation chair, Jonathan Shapiro, in the city in March to boost its dispute resolution capabilities on the West Coast. 

Goodwin’s hometown of Boston saw by far the most promotions, with 22. Across the rest of the US New York and Washington DC each welcomed nine new partners, while Santa Monica, Silicon Valley and San Francisco gained two apiece. The sole promotion in Los Angeles went to M&A and venture finance specialist Justin Smith in the technology team.  

In the UK the firm promoted seven lawyers in London along with Thatcher's promotion in Cambridge, among them real estate industry duo Raymond Fang and Bhargavi Mudakavi and one each in the leveraged finance, life sciences and private investment funds teams. 

Rounding out the promotions is Frankfurt, which saw Catharina Förster get the nod in the real estate industry team along with Felix Krüger, who counsels on the tax aspects of private equity and real estate transactions. 

“Our newest partners are an immensely talented group who have demonstrated dedication to our clients by excelling at high-stakes litigation and dispute resolution, providing world class regulatory and advisory services and executing complex transactions globally,” said Rob Insolia, Goodwin’s chairman. “We are thrilled to welcome this class — the largest in our firm’s history.”  

Click here to see the full list of partners