Japan’s Nishimura & Asahi will integrate with Taiwan-based Lexcel Law Offices on 1 January 2027 to form a new international full-service law firm known as 西村朝日?理安法律事務所, but its English name has yet to be finalised.
In April 2020, Nishimura & Asahi became the first Japanese law firm to open an office in Taipei – Nishimura & Asahi Taiwan – and has since expanded its presence.
Established in 2004, Lexcel Law Offices serves an established client base across key sectors in Taiwan, including technology, finance, pharmaceuticals and real estate.
Ing-Chian Sun, co-representative of Nishimura & Asahi’s Taipei office and lead partner of the firm’s Taiwan practice group, said the decision to integrate with Lexcel Law Offices stemmed from substantially increasing legal needs among clients in Japan and Taiwan.
“We have provided legal services to a wide range of clients in both Japan and Taiwan. In recent years, legal needs have grown significantly and become increasingly complex amid expanding investment flows and business opportunities between Japan and Taiwan, particularly in sectors such as semiconductors, AI and real estate,” she told Asia Business Law Journal.
“To further strengthen our capabilities in serving these evolving needs, we decided to integrate with Lexcel Law Offices, a firm with a strong track record in cross-border matters.”
Sun said, once the integration took effect, the new international full-service law firm would focus on certain key areas.
“By combining the client bases of both firms and Nishimura & Asahi’s global network of offices, we plan to strengthen our support for outbound investments by Taiwanese companies into Japan, Southeast Asia and other jurisdictions, and Japanese companies’ investments in Taiwan, including post-investment business support such as compliance matters and dispute resolution,” she said.
Sun, the first Taiwanese lawyer to be registered as a foreign lawyer in Japan, said the English name of the new international full-service law firm was still being finalised. She also said it remained to be seen how many lawyers the firm would have once the integration had been completed.
