Morgan Lewis & Bockius has declared its intention of becoming a serious player in the Greater China space after snapping up nine partners from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and announcing plans for a Hong Kong office.

The nine-partner team is led by Edwin Luk, formerly the global head of Orrick’s capital markets group, and Maurice Hoo, who was the global practice group co-leader of the M&A and PE practice group at his former firm. 

The other seven partners are Ning Zhang (Beijing and Hong Kong), June Chan (Hong Kong), Keith Cheung (Hong Kong), Connie Cheung (Hong Kong), Louise Liu (Hong Kong), Billy Wong (Hong Kong) and Mathew Lewis (Beijing and Shanghai).

The new partners focus on public and private mergers and acquisitions, China outbound M&A and investments, capital markets, private equity and venture capital, technology and emerging companies, and corporate joint ventures, to name a few.

Additionally, Morgan Lewis will soon be filing an application to become a registered foreign law firm in Hong Kong, and will seek approval along with the newly founded local law firm Luk and Partners, which set up by Luk and others.

The firm also plans to add 40 more fee-earners to its existing 30-lawyer team in China. 

This latest expansion underscores Morgan Lewis’ hunger to grow in the Greater China region. In September last year, it opened a five-partner Shanghai office after poaching from Dentons' legacy branch in that city.