Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has recruited bengoshi lawyer Yukinori Machida from the Osaka market, to join its corporate and securities practice as senior counsel in Tokyo.

The first Japanese qualified lawyer to join the firm in Tokyo, Machida's international practice will focus on hedge funds, corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, real estate, tax, insurance, antitrust and labour matters. Before joining his former Osaka firm, Kitahama Partners, Machida has also served as chief legal officer, and financial and security administrative inspector at the Kinki Finance Bureau of the Ministry of Finance in Japan, where he advised on various financial controversies and issues and monitored the compliance and internal auditing systems of banks and financial services-related companies.

"Bringing a bengoshi aboard allows us to provide a highly-specialised service to our Japanese clients in respect to domestic transactions and to our non-Japanese clients pursuing business in Japan," said Pillsbury Tokyo managing partner William Huss.

The appointment brings Pillsbury's Tokyo headcount up to five, with three partners.