Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) has launched an anti-corruption practice in Singapore with the relocation of Daniel Levison from its Tokyo office.

The US firm, which re-opened in the Asian city-state in January after closing in 2009, now has three full time partners in Singapore with ambitious plans to boost its capabilities there.

Litigation partner Levison, who was based in Tokyo for 12 years, has extensive experience in cross-border disputes, anti-fraud, compliance and internal investigations, and will be leading the firm's FCPA and contentious practices in South East Asia.

From Tokyo he has represented clients in Malaysia, Thailand, India, Australia and New Zealand, and on a mix of complex commercial disputes, regulatory and corruption matters.

Levison will be working closely with litigation partner Timothy Blakely in Hong Kong, who specialises in securities litigation, enforcement and white-collar defense. He was recently replaced in Japan by litigation partner James Hough, who moved from New York.

Mofo opened for business in Singapore in January this year with the relocation of tax partner Eric Roose and Asia managing partner Eric Piesner, also from Tokyo.

Piesner, who specialises in real estate, funds and corporate work, said the Singapore office was evolving well due to the firm's strengths in North East Asia, and that he was optimistic about Mofo's growth in the region despite increasing competition.

"We are looking to expand on relationships we have elsewhere. We are doing a lot of work for US and Japanese companies, for our private equity clients, across ASEAN countries and some work for Singapore companies going outbound.

"[In terms of new hires] we are actively looking in the project finance space, corporate, M&A and arbitration, and we are also considering areas such as funds formation and TMT. 

"We don't have a hard target [on the number of lawyers] but I'd like to think, looking at our competitor firms and the trends in this region, that we'll get to about 15-20 lawyers. We want this to be an office of substance."

He added that the firm would likely apply for a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence at the next opportunity, given the value of local law capability.

Long term it could also look at capital markets, but this was not an immediate priority, Piesner said.

Outside of Singapore Mofo has four other Asian offices located in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Last month the firm added to its Hong Kong private equity team with Ropes & Gray partner Marcia Ellis, bringing the total number of partners in the city to 11.

Related: MoFo boosts Hong Kong PE team with Ropes & Gray partner hire.