Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, one of the big four Japanese firms, has appointed high-profile in-house lawyer Tomoaki Ikenaga to its partnership.
 
Ikenaga-san joined Anderson Mori from Deutsche, where he was most recently executive officer, managing director and general counsel for Deutsche Securities, as well as managing director and general counsel of the Tokyo branch of Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Asset Management.
 
During the last 10 years, Ikenaga has held roles as director and general counsel of Deutsche Bank in Japan, and chief regional counsel for JPMorgan Chase. He has also worked in the US, where he served as a partner with Dickinson Wright in Detroit and Latham & Watkins in New York.
 
Ikenaga told ALB he chose Anderson Mori due to the firm's consistently high quality legal advice and the firm's knowledge of the finance industry.
 
His decision to leave a career in-house came from a desire to spend more time focusing on legal issues rather than management responsibilities.
 
Ikenaga said recent changes to financial services laws in Japan therefore made it a good time for him to move back to private practice.
 
Anderson Mori also recently appointed 21 new first-year associates as part of its yearly intake of graduates who have qualified to practise as bengoshi.