International law firm Bird & Bird today opens an office in Tokyo, Japan.
The opening of the office follows the appointment of partner Hiroyuki (Hiro) Iwamura who joined the firm in June this year and will be based in Tokyo with five other team members. The firm has also recently onboarded Legal Director Shingo Ito, an English and Japanese qualified corporate transactional lawyer based in the London office who will work closely with Hiro and the Tokyo office to support Japanese clients with their cross-border work.
The team on the ground will act as conduits between Japanese clients and the rest of the firm’s international network with further recruitment of partners and associates planned.
Bird & Bird’s Tokyo office supports Japanese clients with outbound cross-border M&A, technology transactions, IP, dispute resolution and data protection work from Japan to Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific in key industry sectors in which the firm operates. These sectors include renewable energy, life sciences, technology and media as well as digital transformation, autonomous driving and global compliance.
The office does not handle in-bound transactions into Japan and will continue to work closely with Japanese law firms in the region to provide Japanese law advice to our clients. Bird & Bird’s consulting arm, OXYGY also has an office in Tokyo and allows for closer collaboration on international projects.
Christian Bartsch, CEO of Bird & Bird adds: “The opening of our Tokyo office continues an exciting year for Bird & Bird and is our first new office following the launch of our new five-year strategy. The strategy focuses on purposeful and intentional growth in key markets where our clients are thriving. Opening an office in Tokyo’s tech-rich ecosystem combined with the increasing demand from Japanese clients to expand globally, was therefore a natural next step for the firm. I’m looking forward to seeing Hiro and our brilliant team in our new Tokyo office grow and flourish."
Hiro Iwamura, partner at Bird & Bird in Japan, says: “The key industry sectors for Japanese clients are very much aligned with Bird & Bird’s strengths. Our presence across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific as well as our unique offering of IP, tech transactions, and M&A, and our ability to mobilise global team allow us to provide to our clients the best legal advice which meets the clients’ needs. We at Bird & Bird are all looking forward to working with Japanese clients more closely on their cross-border matters going forward.”
