The firm has made its first major foray outside the UK with an office in the Asian city.

UK law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper is opening its first private wealth practice outside the UK, in Singapore.

The practice will be led by Rachel Yao, who is joining as partner and head of private wealth for Asia, subject to regulatory approval, the firm said in a statement last week.

Yao was formerly with Carey Olsen, where she led the trusts and private wealth practice in Asia. She advises high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, families, family offices, professional trustees and private banks throughout Asia-Pacific on cross-border wealth structuring, succession planning, trusts, philanthropy and family governance. Before Carey Olsen, Yao spent nine years at Taylor Wessing in Shanghai and London, leading the firm's international private wealth practice for Greater China.

Yao is a Mandarin-speaking trusts and private wealth lawyer based in Singapore specialising in offshore law, with a client base of entrepreneurial families and business owners from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. She sits on the committee of the Singapore branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and is admitted to practise in England and Wales, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the People's Republic of China, as well as holding registrations in Bermuda and Singapore.