Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T) has started 2008 with the appointment of high-level legal advisers in the areas of tax and litigation.

The former regional commissioner of the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, Mamoru Toba, has joined the firm as a special counsel, while Tomoyuki Yokota, the former deputy prosecutor-general of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office, has joined as an adviser.

Toba has a long history of service within the Japanese Ministry of Finance, having held a variety of senior tax department roles between 1976 and 2006. Yokota has acted as a public prosecutor for over 30 years, with a career commencing in 1972.

The appointments follow the hire of 15 new associates from the Supreme Court's Legal Research and Training Institute in late December.