Duane Morris has established an office in Taipei, Taiwan, through its Singapore joint law venture Duane Morris & Selvam (DMS), after securing approval from the Ministry of Justice.

The new office will focus on intellectual property in Taiwan's technology, pharmaceutical and bio-tech industries, as well as in commercial and corporate transactions, anti-trust and regulatory compliance, white collar litigation and investigations, and foreign trade and investment.

Though this will be its first office in the jurisdiction, Duane Morris has a history of representing Taiwanese companies, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, whose ex-general counsel Richard Thurston will work in the firm’s Taiwan office.

The DMS venture was launched in 2011. Apart from a presence in Singapore, Duane Morris also has Asia offices in Vietnam, Myanmar and China, the latter two being established through DMS.