US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman is in the process of launching an office in Hong Kong with the hire of Clyde & Co’s global aviation finance head Paul Jebely.
Jebely will lead Pillsbury’s transportation finance practice in Asia and play a key role building the new office in Hong Kong. The firm has applied for a licence to establish an office in the financial hub and the launch is dependent on regulatory approval.
Once opened, the Hong Kong office will be the firm’s third in China. Pillsbury first entered the PRC through the establishment of an office in Shanghai in 2006 and expanded its mainland China presence to Beijing in 2014.
In addition to aviation finance, the Hong Kong office will focus on international disputes, including internal investigations and regulatory enforcement and private client work.
Jebely joined Clyde & Co in March 2011 as counsel from Ashurst’s Hong Kong office. He took over the global aviation finance head role from predecessor Philip Perrotta in London in 2014, two years after he was made up in 2012.
His clients include Investec, Aviation Capital Group, DVB, AerCap, CHC Helicopter, Nedbank, Global Jet Capital, Credit Suisse and Nok Airlines, as well as numerous ultra-high net-worth individuals.
Jebely’s appointment also comes as part of the firm’s global expansion in asset finance. In 2014, the firm bolstered its English law capability with the hire of a five-lawyer transportation finance team from the London office of DLA Piper including partners Graham Tyler, the former head of the asset finance practice, and Debra Erni.
Pillsbury chair Jim Rishwain said: “We are moving forward on our long-term strategy to expand in China”, adding that it was building on the strengths of its established transportation finance practice.
Apart from its three offices in China, the firm has a fourth office in Asia in Tokyo. In 2014, the firm also strengthened its Tokyo office with two new finance partners joining from Hogan Lovells and Simmons & Simmons.
