A four-lawyer team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Tokyo branch, including a former office managing partner, have spun off to form Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo, a boutique law firm which focuses on employment law and dispute resolution as well as financial regulatory matters.
Akiko Yamakawa and Kazuki Okada were both partners at Freshfields. Naoki Kinami was a consultant and also served as the Tokyo office’s managing partner while Masahiko Kinoshita was an associate. Yamakawa, Okada and Kinami are the partners at Vanguard.
Vanguard told ALB that it is going to add a fifth lawyer to the team later this month: an associate from boutique employment firm Takai Okazeri Law Firm.
Yamakawa explained in a LinkedIn post that Vanguard was formed from Freshfields Tokyo “to best meet the evolving needs of our international clients and further develop our practice in the Japanese market.”
A spokesperson for Freshfields told ALB that the firm continues to advise on other types of employment matters. “Also, Vanguard is part of Freshfields’ StrongerTogether network of domestic law firms. This means that, when we need input in the areas that Vanguard focuses on, we will still work together.”
The spokesperson added, “Through this arrangement, we continue to provide our Japan clients with seamless access to a range of different types of Japanese employment law advice, while Freshfields’ combined bengoshi and international practice also continues to advise on the transactional (including infrastructure), global investigations, antitrust and international arbitration matters for which the firm is well-known in Tokyo and beyond.”
When asked if the Magic Circle firm plans to rebuild its employment team in Tokyo, the spokesperson replied: “In terms of our future mix of talent and expertise, such decisions are always guided by the needs of our clients, and we constantly monitor our resources to ensure they are aligned to those needs. We remain extremely focused on the Japanese market and the needs of our clients there. This resulted in the promotion of our newest partner (in antitrust) just last year, and the recent appointment of Jack Terceño as counsel last month.”
Freshfields has 24 lawyers in the Tokyo office including four partners, most of whom are in corporate, disputes, and antitrust, competition and trade, according to its website.
