Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today opened an office in Istanbul, to work alongside affiliate Turkish firm Yegin Legal Consultancy.

Banking and finance partner Simon Williams will head the office, which will focus on infrastructure, energy, finance, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets work.

The firm’s Istanbul operation will comprise 12 lawyers in total.

Williams said: ‘As the Turkish economy continues to experience strong growth, we anticipate opportunities to develop our own offering in the coming years.’

Clifford Chance managing partner David Childs said: ‘This is one of a series of investments that the firm has announced in the past few months, including a new office in Qatar, our Australian mergers and ambitious growth plans for Asia.’

Clifford Chance has more than 30 partners working on Turkish matters.