Duane Morris said Thursday it has officially opened law offices in Vietnam's two principal cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The expansion plans were originally revealed as the Philadelphia-based law firm announced the opening of a Singapore office in late December.

As with Singapore, the Vietnam effort will be led by Duane Morris partner and former Mexican Ambassador to Singapore Eduardo Ramos-Gómez.

The Vietnam offices will be staffed with three lawyers and focus on the areas of corporate finance, project finance, energy, cross-border transactions, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and telecommunications. The firm's Asia-based lawyers service clients in, or with interests in, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The office and staff are fluent in the major languages of those countries.

Sheldon Bonovitz, chairman of Duane Morris, said Vietnam has thriving manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries and a heavy investment concentration from Singapore and other countries in Asia, as well as from the United States. In addition, Bonovitz said Vietnam's accession to membership in the World Trade Organization in January promises further economic development in the future.

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