Big Four Japanese firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto is strengthening its U.S. presence by opening an office in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This will be the second U.S. office the firm has opened in two years, following New York in 2023. Operations in San Francisco are scheduled to commence in 2025.

The office will be led by two partners. Mikito Ishida, specialising in start-up ventures, private equity and cross-border M&A, will be joined by Stephen Overton, a partner specialising in M&A and cross-border transactions, based in San Francisco since 2015.