Leading Japanese law firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune (AMT) is launching a Singapore alliance this week with local practice DOP Law Corporation allowing it offer local law advice.

The move comes just one month after its big four rival Nishimura & Asahi became the first Japanese firm to form a Singapore alliance, with Bayfront Law.

The deal allows AMT, which opened in Singapore in 2013, and its local ally to ‘act as a one-stop legal service provider in Singapore and the wider region, for all issues concerning Japanese, Singapore and international law’.

‘To further enhance collaboration and cooperation’, DOP Law Corporation is due to move next door to AMT’s office at 9 Raffles Place in mid-September, Covid-19 restrictions allowing.

The Singapore firm, which recently became a multi-disciplinary legal practice, has a seven-strong legal team and is led by David Ong, who studied in Japan and is a fluent Japanese speaker with a 40-year track record of acting as legal counsel to Japanese companies in Singapore.

According to the firm, nearly 90% of its clients are Japanese companies. 

AMT’s Singapore office is led by corporate partners Atsutoshi Maeda and Ko Hanamizu and boasts a total of 14 lawyers.

The firm's other international offices are in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta.

The two Japanese alliances have been forged at a time when two leading international firms have turned their backs on deals with local firms.

Earlier this month Eversheds Sutherland said it was ending its Singapore merger with local firm Harry Elias after just three years and in January Taylor Wessing split with its long-term ally RHTLaw.