Richard Thorp and Harriet Unger, formerly with Maples and Calder, will lead the Asian practice.

Both are authorised by the Law Society of Hong Kong to practise Cayman Islands law in the firm’s new Hong Kong office and are also admitted in the British Virgin Islands.

Thorp is a securities and funds lawyer who has acted on a broad range of funds and general corporate matters, including the establishment of private equity and hedge funds and advising the directors and administrators when complex issues arose.

He joined Maples and Calder in London in 1998 and was transferred to Maples’ Hong Kong office in 2001 where he was made partner in 2004.

Unger is a structured finance specialist whose expertise covers all areas of capital markets transactions. She also has extensive experience of banking and corporate transactions and has been based in Asia for almost ten years.

Prior to her work at Maples and Calder, Unger worked for Simmons & Simmons in its London, Hong Kong and Tokyo offices and has been seconded to two major European investment banks in London.