Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has relaunched its Taiwan office despite the loss of six lawyers including partner Yitai Hu to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. The defecting team left prior to Pillsbury Winthrop and Shaw Pittman's global merger in April this year.

The newly merged firm has sent a team of lawyers from its North Virginia office to relaunch the Taiwan branch. Michael Bednarek is the new manager partner at the office and he has been joined by Poh Chua. Bednarek has said he is in the process of hiring more lawyers for the office.

The office will focus on intellectual property and corporate and securities work