Latham & Watkins is pleased to announce that Yohei Nakagawa has joined the firm’s Tokyo office as a partner in the M&A and Private Equity Practice. Highly regarded in his field, Nakagawa’s practice focuses on advising Japanese and international companies, investors, and financial institutions on a variety of domestic and cross-border M&A, strategic investments, divestments, and joint ventures.
“Japan is a key global finance and innovation hub and an important pillar of our Asia strategy,” said Posit Laohaphan, Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins’ Asia offices. “Yohei’s broad experience is highly complementary to our existing capabilities in the region, and he will be a terrific addition to our market-leading transactional practice.”
Nakagawa regularly advises on both outbound and inbound transactions across a range of key growth sectors, with a particular focus on the technology, life sciences, media, and entertainment industries. Bilingual in Japanese and English, he brings unique multicultural perspectives to complex cross-border transactions.
“Latham has a preeminent reputation advising Japanese and international clients on their most significant cross-border transactions,” added Charles Ruck, Global Chair of Latham's Corporate Department. “Japan continues to be a highly attractive destination for international companies and investors and the market for domestic and cross-border M&A is strong and expected to grow. No firm is better placed to provide top-notch counsel to international buyers looking to invest in Japan, or Japanese buyers looking to expand internationally.”
Ji Liu, Regional Chair of Latham’s Corporate Department in Asia, added: “Yohei’s long-standing stature within the M&A community and his breadth of expertise in the Japanese market supports the firm’s diverse and successful mergers and acquisitions practice. His mix of experience will help build our M&A franchise among large public companies and private equity sponsors, who are looking for law firms that understand their complex business and legal needs.”
Nakagawa joins Latham from Morrison & Foerster. He received his JD from UCLA School of Law and his BS from New York University. He is a member of the New York Bar and a registered foreign lawyer in Japan.