Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy has launched an office in Beijing to boost its Asian presence.

Milbank announced its decision to launch an office in Beijing, first revealed by The Lawyer (January 30), after the closure of its 10-lawyer Silicon Valley office.

Milbank chairman Mel Immergut explained that the firm had decided instead to channel its investment towards China: “We’ve had a robust China practice in Hong Kong for more than 30 years…we felt we needed to get a second office as soon as possible.”

Milbank now has 40 lawyers in its four Asian offices, spead across Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Beijing.

The Beijing office, which was initially expected to launch in March, will be headed by Anthony Root, head of the firm’s corporate practice in Asia.

He will be joined by parter Edward Sun, who relocates from the Hong Kong office along with a team of 10 professionals.