Norton Rose Fulbright is to join the rush of international firms eyeing outbound M&A work from Japan following the hire of its first Japanese-speaking partner from top-four local outfit Nishimura & Asahi.

Eiji Kobayashi, who is a US-qualified Japanese national, was formerly co-head of the cross border transactions group at Nishimura and before that worked in the Houston, Texas and Tokyo offices of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

His appointment brings the total number of partners in Norton Rose's Tokyo office to five following the promotion of banking lawyer Adrian Joyce early last year, and is expected to boost the firm's profile on outbound deals, particularly those into the US, Canada and Latin America.