Allen & Overy, one of the largest UK-based international law firms, is gearing up for a revival of Asian restructuring work, by relocating its European infrastructure experts and lateral hiring in the region.

David Sedgeley, a London-based energy and transport infrastructure expert, is moving to Allen & Overy's Bangkok office. He will be working alongside Grant Williams, a new hire from Chapman Tripp, a large New Zealand firm. Both will be working in the Asian banking and project finance group, headed by Mark Sterling in Hong Kong. At the same time Allen & Overy's joint venture office in Singapore with local law firm Shook Lin & Bok, is taking Moira Taylor from the firm's Hong Kong office to work in the restructuring team alongside partners John Richards, Sarjit Singh Gill and Vinodh Coomaraswamy. A senior European A&O partner said that the firm was keen also to expand its local presence in Japan.