Mayer Brown is pleased to announce that the firm intends to open a new office in Tokyo, Japan in the first half of 2018. The office, which will be spearheaded by a team led by new partner Rupert Burrows, will draw on Mayer Brown’s global platform to serve the firm’s growing client base in Japan. Mr. Burrows, who comes to the firm from Ashurst, where he served as the head of that firm’s Tokyo office, is highly regarded in Japan for his broad experience in projects and energy work around the world, including related corporate M&A transactions and finance.
Mayer Brown has long served an impressive roster of some of the world’s foremost financial institutions and other established multinational companies based in Japan. As these clients have increasingly turned to Mayer Brown for assistance, these relationships have deepened, creating a need for the firm to establish an on-the-ground presence to continue to expand those relationships and to support these clients where they make many of their key global business decisions. Mayer Brown’s Tokyo-based team will be fully integrated with the firm across the globe, further improving on the firm’s ability to provide world-class client service and providing a new route for clients to draw on the firm’s capabilities.
“Over the last few years, we have partnered with our clients in building our relationships with Japanese corporations, banks and trading houses,” said Paul Theiss, the chairman of Mayer Brown. “The feedback from these clients has been consistent around a central theme – that to continue to develop those relationships and further expand along with them, we now need a presence in Tokyo. Consistent with our wider strategic goal to have a strong presence in all of the major financial centers of the world and with our client-led initiative in Japan, we now intend to open in Tokyo in the first half of 2018. We are really excited that Rupert Burrows, an established world-class lawyer who is well-known and respected in the Tokyo market, will be joining us to head up our new office.”
A team led by Mr. Burrows will form the core of the new office in Tokyo. Fluent in Japanese, Mr. Burrows has built a robust practice in Tokyo over the past 20 years.
“Launching this new office in Tokyo offers a compelling opportunity to further build on our important partnerships with our Japanese clients, joining up with the firm’s established capabilities, particularly in project finance, M&A transactions and international arbitration in the US, Latin America, Europe, China, Hong Kong and the rest of Asia,” added Mr. Theiss. “We thank our clients for helping us to take this important step. With lawyers on the ground in Tokyo, we will enhance our ability to serve existing and new Japanese clients. We will be able to bring a level of service and coordination – across a global platform using the firm’s existing infrastructure – that other firms cannot duplicate.”
“Opening in Tokyo is an important step in enhancing Mayer Brown’s platform in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Terence Tung, the firm’s senior partner in Asia. “We are excited by the opportunities this provides, particularly in joining up with our strong and developing projects capability in Southeast Asia through our growing office in Singapore.”
Source: www.mayerbrown.com
