Expanding Tokyo’s investment corridors

When the Tokyo office opened in 2000, the firm had a clear strategy – to focus on outbound work, building head-office relationships with Japanese clients to assist on their international transactions and international disputes.

Referring Japanese work to other Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer offices has always been part of that strategy.

As Graeme Preston, the firm's Tokyo-based Asia managing partner, notes: "Tokyo has become one of the referral 'jewels in the crown' of the firm’s network."

Japan’s companies are long-experienced outbound investors, with historic operations and partnerships in every part of the firm’s network.

Traditional Japanese investment targets in manufacturing, mining, energy and industrials have been joined in recent years by technology, renewables, finance and fintech, and healthcare.

The opportunity is huge - Japan is the US's fifth-largest trading partner, Australia's third largest, the EU's seventh largest, and the list goes on.

The 2025 combination with Kramer Levin had provided a much expanded US capability to service the critical Japan-US corridor.

Now, says Graeme, the firm can cover the whole matter in-house, even where US law is involved. "It makes a huge difference to clients that their matter is led by their regular Tokyo contact with US advice also handled within the firm - it is a huge advantage."

The opportunities presented by the combination are already yielding dividends.

A good example is an instruction to advise one of Japan's largest trading houses on a divestment in the United States.

The divestment was led from Tokyo by Managing Partner Andrew Blacoe, and involved the firm's New York colleagues to handle the US aspects of the transaction.

The transaction concerned a US share purchase agreement for a US business, an area where Japanese clients would typically default to US domestic firms.

As Andrew notes, "This deal demonstrated the combined firm’s ability to lead a complex US corporate divestment as a single adviser, rather than fragmenting responsibility across jurisdictions and external counsel."

Additionally, the deal reflected the merger’s success in combining sector depth with top‑tier corporate transactional execution.

To create these relationships with Japanese companies, Graeme says that you must play a long game.

"Winning trust is the absolute imperative. We have always been clear that to win work, we needed to prove that we were totally committed to Japan.

"We have taken years to establish those relationships, which has paid off handsomely. Once you have won that trust, clients are very loyal."

Another way in which the Tokyo office has built this trust and understanding is through regular lawyer secondments to clients and the close relationships maintained with alumni who eventually move to Japanese clients.

Not only are they professional contacts, but (as our interviews with Nithia Dory at INPEX  and Tom Bowes at Marubeni show) they remain good friends.

Justin D'Agostino, the firm's global CEO, visited the firm’s new Tokyo office earlier this year and was most impressed with how well the team is performing.

"Given our team's existing performance and this market's potential, our goal is to increase our global focus on Japanese clients and their many international markets, especially the investment corridor between Japan and the US,” says Justin.

"We're already doing great work for Japanese clients in these corridors and want to step it up for the benefit of the whole firm."