Japanese law firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto has plans to open an office in the northern city of Sapporo by the end of October. The new office will be its sixth domestic branch after Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Takamatsu.

The move will make MHM the second among the country’s Big Four law firms to have an office in Sapporo, after Nishimura & Asahi established its own office in the capital of Hokkaido earlier this year.

MHM partner and corporate expert Mitsuhiro Tateishi will head the Sapporo office. Tateishi advises clients including venture capital firms, start-ups and private equity funds, on M&A, reorganisation, corporate governance and disputes.

In recent years, large law firms in Japan have been competing by opening new offices both domestically and overseas, with the aim of attracting new clients, as well as providing continued support to their existing clients. In March, MHM announced a plan to set up an office in New York, its first outside Asia.