- Asia
- Offices
- Singapore, Beijing, Silicon Valley
Wilson Sonsini will open a Singapore office and hire two partners on the ground, expanding its Asia footprint beyond Greater China roughly 18 months after it closed its Beijing office, The American Lawyer reported. The Silicon Valley firm, known for technology and venture work, enters a Singapore market already crowded with US private equity and funds practices.
Wilson Sonsini closed Beijing in 2025 and built in Hong Kong
Wilson Sonsini announced in March 2025 that it would close its Beijing office, its largest Greater China outpost by partner head count, by not renewing the lease, while keeping Shanghai and Hong Kong (The American Lawyer).
It has since added partners in Hong Kong. Jennifer Liu joined as a China and capital markets partner in September 2026 from Morgan Stanley's investment banking division, after 13 years at Davis Polk (Legal Business Online). Jocelyn Chow arrived in April 2026 as a national security and antitrust partner, after nearly 13 years at Eversheds Sutherland as Asia head of competition, trade and foreign investment (Wilson Sonsini). Yang Chu joined as a corporate partner in May 2025, working on Hong Kong IPOs, equity and debt offerings and M&A across healthcare, life sciences and technology (Bloomberg Law).
The Beijing closure also cost the firm a team. A four-lawyer capital markets group led by Greater China capital markets head Dan Ouyang, with partners Winfield Lau and Ronnie Li and senior counsel Zhenzhen Bao, moved to Baker McKenzie affiliate FenXun (The American Lawyer).
Simpson Thacher, King & Wood and Loeb & Loeb opened Singapore in 2026
The Singapore entry follows a run of arrivals. Simpson Thacher said on 2 April 2026 that it would open a Singapore office, reopening more than 20 years after it left, with partners Theodore Heng and Carolyn Wong resident and private funds partner Tony Liu relocating; its stated focus is private equity, funds, M&A, real estate, energy and digital infrastructure (Simpson Thacher). China's King & Wood Mallesons is set to open in Singapore in early October 2026 (Law.asia). Loeb & Loeb launched its Singapore office, its third in Asia after Beijing and Hong Kong, with partner Xavier Amadei relocating from Hong Kong alongside partner Lewis Ho (Law.asia). Greenberg Traurig bolstered its Singapore office in November 2025, adding partners including Ashok Lalwani and Chi Pan (Greenberg Traurig).
These openings run against a retreat from mainland China. At least 16 US firms have closed Chinese offices since 2024, among them Milbank, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Weil, Sidley, Morgan Lewis, Fenwick and Dechert, amid geopolitical tension, a slow deal market and regulatory pressure (ABA Journal). Cleary Gottlieb moved to shut Beijing by July 2025, with Seyfarth Shaw and Taylor Wessing also announcing Shanghai and Beijing closures (Nikkei Asia), and Weil Gotshal exited Beijing while in discussions to close Shanghai (Legal Business Online). Firms increasingly treat Singapore, Southeast Asia and Japan as the safer growth bets, consolidating what remains in Hong Kong rather than the mainland (Law.asia).
Singapore funds, private equity and venture work drives the US-firm build-out
Singapore's pull is the growth in family offices and private equity and venture funds setting up locally, helped by the 2020 Variable Capital Company structure (Chambers). Venture activity underpins demand for emerging-companies and financing lawyers, with recent rounds including Airwallex's $330 million Series G and Supabase's $200 million Series D, core Wilson Sonsini technology and venture territory (Chambers).
The practices the incoming firms want overlap. Simpson Thacher named private equity, funds, M&A, energy and digital infrastructure as its Singapore focus (Simpson Thacher), and Wilson Sonsini's recent Asia hires cluster around capital markets and IPOs, corporate M&A and national security and antitrust (Wilson Sonsini). With Simpson Thacher and King & Wood arriving in the same year, the competition for private equity, funds and technology partners has tightened (Legal Business Online).
Domestic share is largely spoken for. Allen & Gledhill and WongPartnership dominate Singapore venture and startup financing, which leaves incoming US firms competing for referral work and cross-border mandates rather than local deals (Chambers).
Singapore replaces mainland China as the US-firm Asia base
The pattern is a swap of location more than a change in scale. Firms pulling back from Beijing and Shanghai are rebuilding corporate, capital markets and funds capacity in Singapore and Hong Kong, in the same practices and often the same year. Wilson Sonsini's planned Singapore office, 18 months after its Beijing exit and alongside its Hong Kong hiring, follows that line.
