Joshua Cole has joined Baker Botts in Singapore in the firm’s corporate practice. His arrival will strengthen the firm’s global digital infrastructure practice. 

Cole joins the firm from Ashurst in Hong Kong, where he led the digital economy transactions practice in Asia, bringing more than 25 years of experience advising on complex M&A and joint ventures in the data centre, subsea cable, telecommunications and digital infrastructure sectors. 

Now based in Singapore, Cole’s practice focuses on complex tech M&A and joint ventures across global markets. He has served as lead counsel on trans-Pacific and trans-Indian Ocean infrastructure projects, with work spanning major markets throughout Asia as well as cross-border transactions connecting various regions around the world. At his prior firm, Cole also served as head of corporate for Asia and head of the Hong Kong office. 

His arrival strengthens Baker Botts’ experience in advising global tech companies, institutional investors and infrastructure funds, and he has worked with companies, including Meta, Telstra, China Unicom and Axiata on cutting-edge transactions worldwide. The addition follows a series of senior lateral hires across Baker Botts’ international offices this year in response to surging client demand in the data centre, subsea cable, telecom, and broader digital ecosystem. 

“Our clients are scaling data centres and digital networks at an unprecedented pace around the world, and Josh’s experience sits right at the centre of that,” said Baker Botts managing partner Danny David. “Technology transactions are getting larger and more complex. Josh has done this work at the highest level for decades and is a perfect fit as we grow globally.”