HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. has extended the firm’s global energy, corporate and dispute resolution reach in Asia by hiring an international arbitration lawyer to serve as counsel, transferring energy transactional and disputes partners from the firm’s London office to Hong Kong and adding three new associates.

Jessica Fei joins Fulbright as counsel from the China practice of another international firm, where she was the head of dispute resolution in China. Fei focuses on international arbitration and other disputes in sectors including international trade and investments, energy, employment, construction, engineering and intellectual property.

She joins a solid team in Hong Kong, which includes international arbitration and dispute resolution partner Richard Hill, who transferred to Hong Kong from Fulbright’s London office in 2008. Also transferring to Hong Kong last summer was Stefan Ricketts, who previously served as general counsel of a major energy company before joining Fulbright’s London office. Three new associates have also joined the firm’s Hong Kong office in recent months, two of whom will work with the energy transactions team on outbound investment work.

“As uncertainty continues in global markets, including in Asia where significant commercial disputes are beginning to surface, it is important to have additional experienced lawyers in our offices in China to provide the seamless dispute resolution capability our clients have come to rely upon,” said Steven B. Pfeiffer, the Chair of Fulbright’s Executive Committee. “We continue to invest in our core strengths, which have long included our disputes, energy and corporate practices.”

Lawyers in Fulbright’s Hong Kong and Beijing offices handle a variety of transactional, investment, energy, finance, arbitration, trade, regulatory and taxation matters for both Asian-based clients and clients with business activities, investments, transactions and other matters throughout Asia.

“We have seen rapid growth, market liberalization and the transformation of the Chinese economy during the past decade,” said Jeffrey A. Blount, the head of Fulbright’s China and Asia Pacific practice groups. “As Asian markets have matured, attracted vast amounts of foreign capital and otherwise become more integrated into the global economy, we have seen a predictable increase in Asia in the types of complex disputes in areas where our firm has long-standing and prominent experience. Now is the right time for us to further expand our disputes capabilities throughout Asia.”

Fulbright is recognized as a premier disputes firm. The firm’s litigation practice has been a cornerstone since Fulbright’s founding in 1919. Giants of the legal profession, such as former Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski, have shaped Fulbright’s litigation practice over the firm’s history.

Fei, the newest addition in the firm’s Asia disputes practice, will work alongside Hill and others within the Fulbright’s growing international disputes practice. Ranging in scope from cross-border trade to foreign direct investment and IP cases, Fei has handled hundreds of international arbitrations in China and elsewhere. She has represented clients before the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, the Beijing Arbitration Commission, the ICC, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

Hill, who joined Fulbright in 2005, has acted in more than 60 international arbitrations under all of the major international arbitration rules, in countries including China, the Czech Republic, England, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Several of the arbitrations he has handled involved amounts in dispute exceeding $1 billion.

Hill also sits as an ICC arbitrator and has substantial litigation experience in the English High Court, the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords and the Privy Council, as well as in the courts of a number of other jurisdictions. Hill’s industry experience stretches from energy and power, to construction, telecommunications, banking and trade.

“There's usually some lag time between an economic downturn and a rise in the number of disputes, but China-related disputes do now seem to be increasing,” said Stephen C. Dillard, the head of Fulbright’s global disputes practice. “We anticipate growth in the number of Chinese and China-related arbitrations and are moving these lawyers and recruiting additional experienced lawyers in anticipation of a future filled with more disputes.”

On the transactions front, Ricketts is experienced in an extensive variety of matters in the oil and gas and infrastructure development arenas, including public and private cross border M&A activity, international capital investment projects and a range of corporate and compliance matters.

Ricketts’ experience includes work on gas liquefaction and regasification projects, LNG sales and purchases, upstream acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as pipeline arrangements, gas distribution networks and power projects. Ricketts also has broad experience in new country entry and investment decision processes and has handled projects in many countries, including: France, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, China, Singapore, Trinidad, USA, Mauritania, Nigeria, Egypt and Tunisia.

Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Founded in 1919, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. is a leading full-service international law firm, with more than 1,000 lawyers in 16 locations in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Munich, New York, Riyadh, San Antonio, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. Fulbright provides a full range of legal services to clients worldwide.

The 2009 BTI survey of FORTUNE 1000 general counsel chose Fulbright as "The BTI Client Service 30" and Corporate Board Member magazine named Fulbright among the top 20 corporate law firms in the U.S. in their survey of board members of public companies. For more information, please visit: www.fulbright.com.