Japanese Law Firms Chase Big Deals With New Europe, UK Offices

Japan’s top law firms are planting their flags on EU and UK turf to aid a boom in deals and investment by clients in the region.

Nishimura Asahi will open offices in Brussels and London early this year and Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu will open an office in London in the first half of 2025. Other firms that opened offices in the de facto EU capital last year include Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, TMI Associates, Atsumi Sakai.

The Japanese outposts don’t plan to compete with established Western operations in London or Europe but rather intend to cooperate with them in providing local legal advice and assistance with local deals in Europe, firm leaders said in interviews.

“UK or US law firms have more than 100 years’ history, so it will take time for Japanese law firms to become real global firms like the top US law firms or Magic Circle in the UK,” said EY Law Japan managing partner Dan Matsuda.

So far, the firms’ outposts have only one or two Japanese lawyers, but Nishimura Asahi and Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu representatives said they plan to hire local lawyers.

“In Brussels, we are planning to have two Japanese lawyers and six to seven European lawyers at the initial phase and grow to about 10-15 total within two to three years,” said Kojiro Fujii, who heads the Brussels office of Nishimura Asahi. The firm’s 40 to 50 lawyers in Tokyo will collaborate with the lawyers in the Brussels, Fujii said via email.

Nishimura Asahi’s London office will also expand, growing to about 10 lawyers within two to three years from about four Japanese lawyers and one or two UK or European lawyers at first, said Yoshiyuki Kizu, who heads the law firm’s London office. “While Japanese lawyers will be the core,” he said, “it is equally important to have lawyers who understand local practices.”

Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu in London plans to add one either Japanese lawyer or a local lawyer per year, said Kiyoshi Honda, who will represent that office.

Japan’s Active Bidders

Japanese dealmakers were the second-most active Asia-Pacific bidders in Europe in 2024, with a total of 240 deals worth $10.9 billion. Almost half of Japanese companies in Europe and the UK said they will expand their business there in the next two years, an annual survey by the Japan External Trade Organization published in December 2024 showed.

Trade agreements between the EU and UK and Japan in the past five years have helped expand mergers and acquisitions. The agreements have also helped to lower bilateral tariffs and reduce other trade and investment barriers, said Rajiv Biswas, a Singapore-based international economist.

“This improved market access has boosted the commercial focus of Japanese companies on both the EU and the UK economies for increased trade and investment, as well as vice versa, improving access for EU and UK companies in Japan,” Biswas said.

Japan’s “Big Four” law firms—Nishimura, Nagashima, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, and Anderson Mori—range in size from about 600 to 800 lawyers and have offices across the globe. TMI Associates is also an active participant in the deals space. Mori Hamada does not currently have a physical presence in the EU or UK but firm representatives said they are considering it.

Next Place

Anderson Mori & Tomotsune opened its Brussels office in April 2024 after setting up shop in London in 2022 “because we have completed our Asian expansion and Europe is the next place to expand as we globalize,” said Ko Hanamizu, who heads the two-lawyer office in Brussels.

“We target Japanese clients who are investing or doing M&As in Europe as well as European clients who are interested in investing in Japan,” Hanamizu said. “It is half and half.”

Nishimura’s Fujii said Brussels plays a pivotal role in shaping EU policies and regulations, and the office there serves as a base for handling issues relating to EU competition law, international trade law, sustainability, digital, and related public policies.

Nagashima’s Honda said the London office will at first mainly target Japanese clients. “We decided to open our London office first and we have yet not decided about opening other offices, like in Brussels,” he said.

Some of the Japanese law firms also are targeting UK and EU clients interested in investing in Japan.

“As Japanese law firms build up their international presence across Asia, the USA and Western Europe, they will gradually become better positioned to compete with other international law firms that already have a widespread international presence across many key economies,” Biswas said.

— With reporting by Mahira Dayal