Nishimura & Asahi, the largest of Japan’s “Big Four” law firms, has launched its first representative office in Southeast Asia. The new office in Ho Chi Minh will be the firm’s second overseas venture, after its first international office was launched in Beijing only three months ago.

Majmudar & Co has appointed Abdul Rasheed and Ravishankar Raghavan – the associate vice-president of ING India’s corporate legal and compliance department and an Ernst & Young senior tax lawyer – to the firm’s corporate banking and tax advisory practices, respectively.

Hong Kong has reached a high in follow-on share issues this week, coming in second place behind Shanghai with secondary share activity valued at US$8.5bn in record year-to-date figures.

Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal miner, has retained Herbert Smith and its associated Indonesian firm, Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung, to advise on the US, UK, Singapore and Indonesian law aspects of Indonesia’s second largest block trade to take place in the last decade.

Clifford Chance has poached Raymond Tong, the head of capital markets of its former joint-venture firm in Singapore WongPartnership, after working closely with Tong during its nine-year alliance.

Allen & Overy and White & Case won a landmark mandate – acting on the first non-Thai denominated debt issue offered in Thailand since new regulations set in earlier this year. The deal’s significance was bolstered by also being the largest corporate bonds issue in Thailand since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office has welcomed home one of its own after a five-year hiatus – and promoted her to lead a team of attorneys specialising in cross-border mergers and acquisitions between Japan, and the Middle East and North Africa regions.

International firm Eversheds is one step closer to its goal of a 50-lawyer-strong Hong Kong office by 2011 -- with the addition of Slaughter and May veteran partner litigator Mark Yeadon.

Pinsent Masons has strengthened its banking & finance offering in the Gulf with the appointment of Islamic finance senior lawyer Amir Ahmad.

Jumeirah chief legal officer and general counsel Robert Swade has ruthlessly culled the group’s legal panel from 12 firms to five this year – with Al Tamimi, Mayer Brown, Clyde & Co and Pinsent Masons the only firms out of the original 12 to survive unscathed.