Withers Japan, Zeirishi Houjin

The firm:Withers is one of the world’s first international law firms dedicated to the business, personal and philanthropic interests of successful people, their businesses, families and advisers. With over 220 partners and more than 1,500 staff members in 17 offices across Europe, US, Asia Pacific and the Caribbean, Withers has unparalleled expertise in the key legal issues facing individuals, their businesses and their families. Its clients’ interests span 80 countries and the firm has acted for 74% of the top 100 UK ‘Sunday Times Rich List’, and a significant number of the US ’Forbes List’ of Richest Americans and the Asian ‘Hurun Rich List’.

Established in 2015, the Tokyo office has a team of leading lawyers with more than 20 years of experience working in Asia, equipped with the experience to advise Japan’s most prominent companies and international corporations on inbound and outbound cross-jurisdictional transactions. The team is also uniquely positioned to provide tax advice and are specialists in structuring foreign investment funds investing into Japan real estate, serving as the leading adviser to major fund groups.

Tokyo is also one of the cities with the largest number of millionaire residents, and the lawyers are equipped with the expertise to provide private client work with Withers being the go to firm for a number of private banks.

Areas of practice
Tax:  Withers has a fully diversified tax practice in Tokyo and provides domestic and international businesses, both publicly or privately owned, tax efficient strategies and advice in many areas including:

• Pre-sale/IPO tax planning
• Mergers and acquisition tax advice
• Cross-border transactions
• Partnership, corporation and other entity planning
• Tax compliance
• IP licensing / sponsorship agreements

Working closely with tax lawyers based in the other 18 offices, Withers Japan provides clients with a deep level of local expertise while bringing a global perspective.

Investment funds: The investment funds team in Tokyo has seven professionals with extensive experience, forming one of the premier investment funds and investment management practices in Japan. As a full service firm, Withers provides fund sponsors and investors advice on all funds and multi-jurisdictional related matters, including:

• Investment management arrangements
• Fund structuring and formation
• Private equity funds
• Private placement and fund collective vehicle documentation
• Regulatory and securities law advice

Real estate: Members in the real estate team have consistently been regarded as leading practitioners in the field. The team advises clients at all stages of inbound and outbound real estate investment cycles, from leasing, sales, asset acquisitions, acquisition finance, to fund formation, public offerings and restructurings. Clients include investment banks, commercial banks, lenders, developers, institutional investors, private equity funds, pension funds and advisers, REITs and multinational corporations.

Legal services Wither’s lawyers advise on include:

• Real estate related M&A
• Real estate private equity
• Real estate financing, structured finance and acquisition finance
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs)

Corporate M&A: Withers' corporate lawyers have significant cross-border M&A experience. We have helped local and foreign investors acquire assets and deal with ongoing operational issues.

Our corporate team in Asia advises companies, corporate groups and entrepreneurs on every aspect of their commercial arrangements and business affairs, from start-up to international expansion, restructuring and disposal. Working alongside our overseas partners in the United States and Europe, we can provide seamless international commercial law advice to clients across a wide range of business sectors. We can advise companies and their key stakeholders at each stage of the business lifecycle.

Private client: Withers has one of the largest international private client legal teams in Asia, enabling it to provide a wide range of services in multiple languages in the same time zone as its clients, making the legal advice both cost-and time-efficient. This has also enabled the firm to respond to client needs by forming dedicated teams to service entrepreneurs, families, family offices, investment and private banks, trust companies, landed estates and the globally wealthy. Its substantial presence across Asia is further strengthened with offices in the US, Europe and the British Virgin Islands. What sets Withers apart from its peers is that its team typically acts for the creators of wealth and their families, and focus on developing long term relationships with those clients across its offices.