DLA Piper has hired two senior partners and a sizeable capital markets team as it steps up its push into premium capital markets and private equity work across Asia. The firm has recruited Charles Ching, formerly Asia managing partner at Weil Gotshal & Manges, alongside a Hong Kong–based capital markets and corporate team from Sidley Austin, led by senior partner and executive committee member Sherlyn Lau. The moves underscore DLA Piper’s belief that there is significant room to build a stronger private equity pipeline and expand its footprint in high-end Hong Kong capital markets transactions. Lau, previously deputy head of Sidley’s China corporate and finance practice, joins DLA Piper with a team of 13, including eight other qualified lawyers. She is recognized for advising on Hong Kong IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, secondary equity fundraisings, listing rules compliance, and pre-IPO private placements. Her recent work includes advising on the $215 million Hong Kong IPO of Guangdong Tianyu Semiconductor Co., Ltd., the $153 million dual primary listing of Jiaxin International Resources Investment Limited in Hong Kong and on Kazakhstan’s Astana International Exchange, and a roughly $30 million share placement by iMotion Automotive Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. "We thank Sherlyn for her contributions to the Hong Kong office and wish her well in her new role," a Sidley spokesperson said. "We continue to be committed to our Hong Kong office and APAC as we have been for over 40 years." At DLA Piper, Lau is expected to strengthen the firm’s Hong Kong capital markets bench. Research by Law.com International last month showed DLA Piper advising on 13 live Hong Kong IPO filings as of January 19 this year. “The firm’s strategy is very clearly to invest and grow in those markets which we think have the greatest opportunity to benefit the whole of the DLA pipeline and certainly there are a number of those markets in Asia, of which Hong Kong is one of them,” said Jonathan Kenworthy, a London-based partner and global co-chair of the firm’s corporate practice. According to Kenworthy, the firm’s growth plan is anchored around several “key limbs,” including geographies, practice areas and sectors. “For us, Sherlyn ticks all of those boxes.” “This is a step change in the practice from our perspective, and we are looking to move up the value chain,” he added. A Sidley lifer, Lau spent nearly two decades at the firm. She was appointed deputy head of Sidley’s China corporate and finance practice in 2021 and joined its executive committee the following year. Her departure comes amid broader changes at Sidley’s Hong Kong office, which has seen a number of corporate partners leave after the firm significantly reduced its local lawyer head count over the past year. Ching, meanwhile, will be primarily based in DLA Piper’s Washington, D.C. office, while traveling frequently to Greater China. He brings extensive experience in private equity and cross-border M&A, advising sponsors and corporates on acquisitions, minority investments and PIPE deals, particularly those involving China. Ching joined Weil in 2015 from Freshfields, where he was a partner, and previously practiced at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. Ching left Weil in December after more than a decade at the firm. Recent highlights of his practice include advising the chairman and senior management of Smart Share Global Limited as part of a buyer consortium led by Trustar Capital on the $327 million take-private of Energy Monster, as well as acting for Advent International on its investment in VNU Exhibitions Asia. The Asia-Pacific private equity market was valued at around $2.7 trillion in 2025 and is projected to reach approximately $5.4 trillion by 2030, Joseph Silver, partner and U.S. chair and global co-chair of DLA Piper’s private equity practice, told Law.com International. “That’s a [compound annual growth rate] of about 12%, and this growth is driven primarily by institutional investors and a widening bank funding gap, which enables more institutional investment transactions in the Asia Pacific region and U.S. funds that are looking that way, and vice versa,” he said. “Charles in particular, with his connectivity to the U.S. and Asia, really helps fill a strategic need for us.” The firm’s private equity practice has expanded steadily year on year, with deal volumes growing exponentially over the past five years to become the second- largest globally, trailing Kirkland & Ellis, according to Pitchbook. As sponsors scale up and move into larger, more complex transactions, demand has increased for advisers with experience at the top end of the market, Silver said. “Our sponsors are getting bigger and bigger, and moving up the value chain. So they have got to have practitioners that are used to doing the bigger transaction, and Charles fits right in that mold,” he added. Formerly based in Shanghai, Ching was appointed co-Asia managing partner at Weil in 2017 alongside former Weil partner Tim Gardner, who left in 2024, leaving Ching as the firm's sole regional head. He later relocated to Hong Kong following Weil’s decision to close its Shanghai and Beijing offices, consolidating its Asia operations in Hong Kong after more than two decades in mainland China. "We know several U.S. firms have reduced presence in Asia and shifted some resources to the U.S. and London, but we believe that's opened up a real opportunity for us to capture more market share and a growing Asia market,” Silver said. According to the Hong Kong Law Society, DLA Piper currently has close to 90 registered lawyers in the city, including 22 partners. One partner focuses on capital markets work, while three advise on M&A and general corporate transactions. The firm plans to continue expanding its presence in the region. “Although growth predictions in China have maybe been tempered a bit in recent years, they’re still very, very strong, certainly by global standards, so we see it as a tremendous opportunity,” said Kenworthy. Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Lau is joining DLA with nine other lawyers when the correct number should be eight. This has been corrected. We regret the error.