Bingham McCutchen has launched an investment funds practice in Tokyo with the hire of a seven-lawyer team from White & Case.

Partners Christopher Wells and Tomoko Fuminaga, who headed the investment funds and regulatory team at White & Case, have joined the US rival firm this week along with five associates.

Having worked as a lawyer in Japan for 29 years, Wells specialises in investment funds and regulation in Asia, focusing on the establishment, operation, registration and licensing of funds and fund-related investment intermediaries in Japan, including banks, securities companies, asset managers, investment trust management companies and moneylenders.

He also assists multinational financial groups with issues related to regulatory compliance and licence qualification matters.

Fuminaga, who is locally qualified, advises banking, securities and asset management companies on Japanese financial regulatory matters and corporate law.

She has worked extensively on structuring and registering investment funds in Japan, with additional experience on cross-border M&A deals.

"Chris and Tomoko have built one of the leading international investment funds and financial regulatory practices in Asia," said partner Roger Joseph, head of Bingham's investment management group globally.

"Their arrival further solidifies our capabilities globally to assist investment management and financial services clients with sophisticated legal needs that span borders."

Tokyo managing partner for Bingham, Hideyuki Sakai, added that the hires also reflected an increase in investment activity in Japan.

He said: "The arrival of Chris and Tomoko further enables us to provide the best on-the-ground capabilities in Tokyo for domestic and international institutional investors as the Japanese market has seen recent progress under the new Japanese administration." 

Boston-headquartered Bingham currently has three offices in Asia located in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.

The Japan office, which opened in 1997 and operates as a foreign law joint enterprise known as Bingham McCutchen Murase, Sakai Mimura Aizawa, now has a 75 lawyer team with more than 30 partners.

As well as providing international counsel, the firm also offers local law advice on areas such as financial restructuring, M&A, securities, antitrust and trade regulation, intellectual property and litigation.

In June last year it hired Herbert Smith partner Steve Lewis, who relocated to Japan from London.

Having previously spent 10 years as Tokyo office managing partner for Herbert Smith, Lewis brought with him a significant amount of experience on Japanese deals, including domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, investments and energy transactions.