Australia's Allens Arthur Robinson has set up a formal alliance with Japanese firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T) to bolster its presence in the region.

The alliance will go live tomorrow (1 October) and will see each of the firms' permanently hosting seconded lawyers to spend a period of time in each others offices.

Allens has already sent one senior associate to Tokyo and is currently arranging for NO&T partners to join its offices in Jakarta, Vietnam and Thailand.

The firms have been working together for 30 years and have formalised the relationship in anticipation of increasing Japanese in-bound investment into Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other South-East Asia countries

Allens Japan group head, Tim Lester, said: "We have been closely reviewing our position in Japan for some time now, looking at the growing opportunities in the region, especially the situation post-crisis, and decided that the best way we could capitalise on and extend our market share there and expand opportunities beyond Japan was through a formal alliance with one of Japan's leading firms."

The firms will remain structurally and financially independent, but work together on marketing and training initiatives in Japan.

Australian competitor Blake Dawson opened a Tokyo office in April this year, becoming the first Australian firm to be licensed to practice in Japan.

Allens' has 15 offices across Asia and Australia.