Atsumi & Sakai has continued its global expansion with a Vietnam office launch in Ho Chi Minh City, marking the Tokyo-based law firm’s first outfit in Southeast Asia and fifth overseas outpost.
The expansion into Vietnam comes on the heels of its office opening in Brussels in May this year, which currently operates as the Japanese firm’s third European branch after London and Frankfurt.
Under the name Atsumi & Sakai Vietnam Law Firm, the new office currently lists two Japanese lawyers and one Vietnamese lawyer. Japan-qualified of counsel Katsunori Irie, who is a registered foreign lawyer in Vietnam, serves as the Ho Chi Minh City office’s representative, supported by Japan-qualified associate and Vietnam-registered foreign lawyer Taisuke Oikawa. Vietnam-qualified of counsel Thi Ngoc Anh Mai, who is currently the new office’s only Vietnamese lawyer, previously worked at Nishimura & Asahi’s Ho Chi Minh City branch, but is not a registered foreign lawyer in Japan.
Atsumi & Sakai, which currently employs close to 250 lawyers, said in a 9 July press release that the newly launched Ho Chi Minh City office would “provide clients with timely assistance for their business expansion in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and with international projects.” The Vietnam office covers practice areas including, cross-border M&A, local entity incorporation, corporate governance, project finance, overseas infrastructure and dispute resolution covering both litigation and arbitration.
Since 2011, Atsumi & Sakai has operated an alliance with Hanoi-based A-PAC International Law Firm, which has experience in negotiations with Vietnamese government authorities, the Tokyo-based firm says. The Japanese law firm, which has been advising Japanese companies with operations in Vietnam or plans for expanding into the Southeast Asian nation through the alliance, continues to A-PAC as an affiliate firm as of 9 July.
