Mori Hamada is launching an office in London, in a move that means all of Japan’s Big Four law firms will have a presence in the UK capital.
The office is Mori Hamada’s first in Europe and will serve as a hub for its operations in the region, the firm said. Since 2022 its Big Four rivals Nagashima Ohno, Nishimura & Asahi and Anderson Mori have all set up shop in London, citing the city’s status as a centre for M&A and finance as well as a hub for Japanese companies entering Europe.
Mori Hamada said a physical presence in Europe would allow it to better serve its clients, who are increasingly interested in the Japanese market and assets.
“With the increasingly complex global landscape and a growing emphasis on national priorities and bilateral negotiations over multilateral coordination, it has become essential to gather real-time legal and policy information on the ground in Europe and to strengthen our longstanding ties with local firms,” Mori Hamada said. “For these reasons, we have chosen to establish a presence in London, the centre of business, finance and law in the region.”
The launch comes amid a spike in Japan’s M&A activity, which hit a record $232bn in H1 2025, more than tripling from the previous year and driving Asia’s M&A rebound. Several market trends, including corporate governance reforms and a shift in investor interest from China, have converged to fuel the growth, with Japanese corporate buyers not only looking to neighbouring markets but also Europe and the US for targets.
Mori Hamada’s London office will begin operations next year and be led by partner Yohsuke Higashi, who specialises in cross-border M&A, foreign investment regulations and international trade. It will support the firm’s European clients on their transactions, regulatory inquiries and crisis management in Asia and Japanese clients with outbound M&A, projects and regulatory matters in Europe.
The launch continues an international expansion push by Mori Hamada that saw it open its first office outside of Asia, in New York, in 2023 and add a second US office in San Francisco earlier this year. In that time, the firm has also expanded its Asian network with alliances in Indonesia and the Philippines, giving it a presence in seven Asian countries outside Japan.
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