Baker & McKenzie is set to see the departure of a team of around 25 lawyers – including five partners – from its Amsterdam office to launch a new independent firm.

Private equity partner Marc van Campen is leading the team, with corporate partner Maurits Tausk's departure also confirmed.

Private equity partner Jan Peters, tax partner Marcello Distaso and corporate partner Edwin Liem are also expected to join the new outfit.

The independent firm will open in Amsterdam on 1 February this year under the banner Van Campen & Partners, with an initial team of 15 lawyers. A further 10 lawyers and around five support staff are expected to join from Bakers in the coming weeks.

The firm will focus on private equity, tax and M&A and is understood to have been set up as a result of conflict issues relating to referral work.

Van Campen has been at Bakers since 1997 and was made up to partner in 2001. He specialises in cross-border private equity investments and pan-European fund structuring.

The news comes as Bakers has hired a five-lawyer Linklaters team in Tokyo, including two partners.

Corporate partners Hideo Norikoshiand Jiro Toyokawa are will join the US firm along with associates Kiyoshi Endo, Seiji Tomimoto and Daisuke Wakamatsu.

The hires take the total number of partners in Bakers' Tokyo office to 46 and total fee earner count to 160.

It is understood that Linklaters now has around 35 lawyers in its local office, down from 50 in 2008.

In response to the hires, Bakers Tokyo managing partner Yoshiaki Muto said: "Japanese companies have been making aggressive moves abroad as a result of a strengthening yen and recognition of the need for greater geographic diversity following disruptions to their operations due to the tsunami and earthquakes in 2011."