San Francisco’s Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe has swooped on half of the lawyers from Hong Kong firm Siao Wen & Leung to boost its Asian practice ahead of a bid to launch a practice in mainland China later this year.

The move will provide a major increase to the top 50 US firm’s three-lawyer Hong Kong practice, adding 19 lawyers, including four partners, under the lead of former Siao Wen name partner Carson Wen.