Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has bolstered its Japanese corporate practice with the hire of two Tokyo-based partners.

Nobuo Nakata from Asahi Koma Law Office and Akihito Katayama from Atsumi & Partners started at the top London firm's joint venture, Freshfields Law Office, today (2 February).

The joint venture office, which was formed in 1998, now has 40 lawyers, including eight partners.

The appointment comes at a time of increasing foreign interest in the Japanese legal market, despite the 10-year slump in the country's economy, due to the lack of local commercial lawyers and upcoming reforms of Japan's restrictive bar rules.

Notably the Japanese government last year said that the current ban on foreign firms practising local law outside of tightly-regulated joint ventures was to be swept away as part of a broader reform of legal services.

Freshfields Asia head Perry Noble said: "Opening of the Japanese market to increased foreign investment will create opportunities for a select group of firms who are capable of delivering Japanese, English and US law advice."

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