Japanese law firm Miura & Partners (M&P) has announced that it will open an office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in February 2024.

This will be M&P’s third overseas office after Jakarta and San Francisco, both of which opened in April this year to meet demand from clients that are looking abroad in the wake of Japan’s shrinking domestic population and economy.

However, Vietnam is already a crowded place for Japanese law firms, with most of the country’s largest firms – including Nishimura & Asahi, TMI Associates, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune – having offices in either Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, if not both.

Anderson Mori recently announced the opening of its Hanoi office, some eight years after it set up shop in HCMC.

Miura partner Ryhoichi Inoue, who currently heads M&P’s Jakarta office, will also oversee the Ho Chi Minh office in the initial months. He advises on M&A, disputes, restructuring and bankruptcy. Two junior Vietnamese lawyers have already joined the new office, and M&P aims to provide legal support to companies from Japan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries on issues such as M&A and compliance, the firm said in a statement.