Leading Australian IP firm Davies Collison Cave has strengthened its IP service offerings in Singapore by hiring Esther Seow to lead its trade mark department. Seow is a qualified lawyer with experience in advising clients on trade mark matters and IP-related agreements. She is the firm's first trade mark partner in the country.

IP transactions specialist John Squires has joined Gibson Dunn & Crutcher as partner. Squires was previously with law firm Perkins Coie, where he was co-Chair of the IP Value Group and IP lead for the Virtual Currency & Blockchain Industry Group. In the past Squires also held the position of in-house IP counsel at Goldman Sachs and Honeywell. He will be based in the firm's New York office. 

International law firm Paul Hastings recruited Patent Star Chad Peterman to bolster its litigation practice. Peterman was formerly a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and is renowned in pharmaceutical and technology patent disputes. Earlier in July, Paul Hastings also welcomed Hiroyuki Hagiwara and Hassen Sayeed M.D. as IP partners in its Tokyo and New York offices, respectively. 

Non-traditional law firm VLP Law Group has hired Edward Kwok as partner in its IP practice group. Kwok is a patent attorney with a technical background in electrical engineering and computer science. His practice focuses on patent prosecution and Inter Partes proceedings before the USPTO, and patent litigation in the courts. Kwok will be based in Silicon Valley, California.