Nishimura & Asahi, Japan’s largest firm, is set to open an office in Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido. The new office will be its fifth domestic branch after Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka.

The Sapporo office will provide support on areas such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG), sustainable development goals (SDG) and other sustainability initiatives, one of the most rapidly emerging practice areas globally. It will also support cross-border matters that require multi-jurisdictional capability.

While the new office will bolster its domestic offering, Nishimura has been focused more on overseas expansion in the last decade and more. For example, in January this year the Japanese firm expanded its presence to Malaysia by entering into a strategic alliance with local firm WM Leong & Co.