Allen & Overy (A&O) has bolstered its China offering with the hire of the former managing partner of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft's Beijing office.

Mark Roppel will join A&O from the troubled New York firm as a partner in its corporate practice on 1 September.

Roppel, who has headed Cadwalader's office in Beijing since 2006, will be based in Shanghai but is also expected to split his time between Beijing and Hong Kong. A&O's head of US law, David Johnson said: "With his immense experience, Mark will immediately broaden our US M&A capabilities and significantly strengthen our existing capital markets practice in Hong Kong, China and across the region." A&O has around 100 lawyers in its China practice operating from offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

As reported by The American Lawyer yesterday (25 August), Roppel's departure is unrelated to news of 96 lawyer redundancies affecting the Cadwalader's capital markets and finance groups.

However, he is the first significant partner defection from the firm since the layoffs were announced late last month.

Roppel joined Cadwalader's New York corporate practice in 2005 from Shearman & Sterling's New York mergers and acquisitions department, transferring to Beijing in 2006.

The firm is currently discussing options for the Beijing outpost, which will not house any partners after Roppel departs. However a spokesperson said the firm will not be closing the office which has five associates.

The American Lawyer is a US sister title of Legal Week.