Mori Hamada & Matsumoto has kickstarted April with a boost to its corporate M&A practice from the addition of Morrison & Foerster’s partner Stan Yukevich to its partnership.
Mori Hamada, one of Japan’s four largest law firms, told Asia Business Law Journal that Yukevich’s experience and insight were crucial in swiftly responding to clients’ evolving needs in this highly competitive M&A field and indispensable for continuing to provide high-quality legal services and innovative solutions.
The arrival of Yukevich, who previously practised at Morrison & Foerster for more than 26 years, comes about less than four months after the Japanese firm launched a foreign law joint enterprise allowing overseas-admitted lawyers to join its partnership as equal partners.
Having started his legal career as an associate at Skadden in Los Angeles in 1993, the Tokyo-based corporate partner joined Morrison & Foerster in 1999 specialising in corporate work from M&A and joint ventures to strategic alliances, private equity and venture capital investments with experience in handling matters for technology companies.
Qualified in California and registered as a foreign law attorney in Japan, the corporate veteran was involved in multiple billion-dollar cross-border transactions during his 26 year-plus stint at Morrison & Foerster. He acted for Toshiba in its USD2.3 billion acquisition of Swiss advanced electricity and utility meter provider Landis+Gyr. He also represented Japanese medical products and equipment manufacturer Terumo Corporation in its USD2.6 billion acquisition of US blood collection and treatment provider CaridianBCT.
The move to deepen its bench with California-qualified corporate specialist Yukevich also coincides with the scheduled opening of a San Francisco Bay Area office this year, setting out to provide an Asia practice to clients based on the West Coast to tap technology and startup-related legal needs.
