Linklaters has appointed William Liu as its new Regional Managing Partner, Asia for a period of four years from 1 June 2021. William succeeds Nathalie Hobbs who has completed her term in the role and will work closely with William during a handover period.

William joined Linklaters in 1998 as a trainee in Hong Kong SAR and was admitted as partner in 2008, whilst spending three years in the firm’s Shanghai office. Since 2018, William has served as Head of China and Head of Capital Markets, Asia, overseeing the firm’s strategy and vision for China as well as sitting on the Asia Executive Committee.

William is recognised by clients and peers as a pre-eminent capital markets lawyer and his leadership of the Linklaters China capital markets practice has seen the firm work on some of the most high-profile transactions in the region in recent years. This includes the US$6bn 144A/Reg S sovereign bonds offering by the People’s Republic of China which attracted a record demand of an orderbook of over US$28bn; and Asia’s first blue bonds offering by Bank of China.

Gideon Moore, Firmwide Managing Partner at Linklaters, commented: “Nathalie has been an energetic and committed leader over the past four years. Her sound, commercial judgement and pragmatic approach has supported the region’s significant grow and we thank for her for her service. William has consistently delivered results in his previous roles as Head of Capital Markets, Asia and Head of China and I am excited to see where he takes the region next.”

William Liu, incoming Regional Managing Partner, Asia at Linklaters, added: “I am looking forward to building on Nathalie’s fantastic legacy and working with colleagues across the region to drive forward our focus on clients and culture.”