Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has opened a Hong Kong office and broadened out its China offering, taking nine partners from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
The significant group hire will more than double its existing presence in China with 40 lawyers and legal professionals expected to join Morgan Lewis’s 30 strong headcount in the region.
The team, led by Orrick’s former executive committee member and global capital markets head Edwin Luk and the firm’s former head of M&A and private equity Maurice Hoo, will be based across the firm’s offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.
The new team will bulk up Morgan Lewis’s capital markets, M&A and private equity capabilities with Beijing and Hong Kong based corporate partner Ning Zhang, Hong Kong based corporate partners June Chan, Connie Cheung and Keith Cheung, and capital markets partners Louise Liu and Billy Wong. Beijing and Shanghai based corporate partner Mathew Lewis is also joining the US firm.
Morgan Lewis has filed an application to become a registered foreign law firm in Hong Kong as part of the hires, under the name Luk and Partners.
Morgan Lewis chair Jami McKeon said: ‘Adding this cohesive corporate team of partners furthers this commitment, and continues our strategic and careful growth in China.’
She added: ‘We have long recognised the importance of Hong Kong as one of the world’s principal financial centers, and we have been looking for just the right team there.’
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk