David Strong is the latest tax practitioner to join the ranks of Morrison & Foerster LLP, the Denver based law firm announced Tuesday.

Previously at cross-town law advisory Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, Strong will now handle tax issues for M&A deals and private equity investments as part of Morrison & Foerster's tax department where cross border deals, particularly in Asia, are more common.

“It’s both a challenge and an opportunity,” he told Mergers & Acquisitions, referring to dealmaking in emerging markets like China.

Over the years Morrison & Foerster expanded its presence in China, opening offices in three cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. It also recently hired Eric Roose as a tax partner for its Tokyo office in Japan. And even though foreign jurisdictions can be quite tricky to navigate, Strong says his past experience as a lawyer, as well as an investment banker, will “help support the firm’s Asian efforts.”

After earning his juris doctor from Stanford Law School in 1995 and his masters of law degree in taxation from New York University in 1997, Strong went on to work at Sherman & Sterling LLP until 1998, before switching over to Covington & Burling LLP until 1999. He then quit law and was hired at Deutsche Bank as a banker advising M&A deals.

“That’s where I learned the financing part of the practice,” he said, remembering the infamous tech bubble and bust of the late 1990s. “Fortunately I wasn’t in the industries that suffered like internet and tech.”

Strong left Deutsche in 2002 and returned to law where he would eventually go on to advise clients in various industries including financial services, technology, telecommunications, metals, mining and industrial manufacturing.

As part of Morrison & Foerster’s Denver office, Strong will also work closely with the firm’s California locations in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Sacramento.

In addition, he is the incoming Vice Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Tax Committee and currently scheduled to chair the committee in 2013.

Other recent hires at Morrison & Foerster include Michael O'Donnell, specializing in life sciences at the firm’s Palo Alto office, and corporate partner Hendrik Jordaan who is managing the firm's private equity investments and buyouts group in Denver.

Career moves Financial services industry