DLA Piper has strengthened its Beijing corporate team with the hire of Heller Ehrman partner Steven Liu, the transatlantic firm announced today (21 June).

Liu – who spent the best part of a decade with tech leader Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati prior to joining Heller – focuses on venture capital and technology work.

He becomes the latest addition to DLA Piper's Asia practice, which made a spate of hires in the region towards the end of last year.

Notable appointments include those of corporate partner Esther Leung, who joined the firms' Hong Kong office from the local arm of Mallesons Stephen Jaques; O'Melveny & Myers corporate counsel Koji Ishikawa, who joined as a partner in Tokyo; and senior Motorola in-house lawyer Jeffery Tan, who moved to the firm's Singapore outpost.

DLA Piper now has around 150 lawyers in its China practice, which recently bagged a headline role on the Bank of Beijing's $1bn (£504m) initial public offering. DLA Piper is advising the issuer on Hong Kong law, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised the underwriters.

Davis Polk & Wardwell and Shearman & Sterling are also thought to have been handed roles on the flotation, having been given the nod on US-law aspects for the bank and underwriters respectively.