Japanese Big Four law firm Nishimura & Asahi has welcomed two new partners to its newly established Brussels office: International trade partner Benoit Servais (L) joins from Van Bael & Bellis, while antitrust expert Kristina Winkelmann moves from Gleiss Lutz.
The new hires happen to come at a time of continued momentum in Japanese outbound investment. According to European Commission data, Japanese investment in the European Union was valued at 236 billion euro ($246 billion), concentrated mainly in the Netherlands and Germany.
The Brussels office, led by Tokyo-based partner Kojiro Fuji, now has four partners assisting clients on EU legal policies and regulations, with a focus on sustainability, digital regulation, and data protection.
Servais brings over 30 years of experience in EU regulations, trade remedies, and litigation before EU courts. Having spent the entirety of his prior career with Van Bael & Bellis, a trade-focused law firm, Servais has been involved in more than 160 EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations since 1992.
Winkelmann, who was an associate partner at Germany’s Gleiss Lutz, will head Nishimura's EU competition law team. She joins the firm with over eight years of experience advising international clients on EU antitrust law and the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). Her practice encompasses merger control, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance, and antitrust compliance, with a track record of representing clients before the European Commission, the German Federal Cartel Office, and European courts.
This development is part of Nishimura's broader strategy to expand its global footprint, with plans to open new offices in Hong Kong and London this year. In recent months, the Japanese giant has already made deeper inroads across Southeast Asia, with a new office in the Philippines, and partner hires in Thailand and Vietnam. Nishimura also has presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, the UAE, the U.S., China, and Myanmar.
The hires have also highlighted the growing global ambitions of Japanese law firms. In recent months, other Japanese firms have made significant inroads in Europe and the United States, including TMI's launch in Brussels, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu's expansion into London, and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto's establishment of a second U.S. outpost in San Francisco.
