Ogier, the offshore legal and fiduciary services provider, has opened new offices in Bahrain and Tokyo as part of its plans to develop a presence in global financial centres.

“In pursuit of our strategy we felt it critically important to establish a strong presence in both the Middle East and Japanese markets so that we can provide the full range of Ogier’s services to our clients in their own time zone and in a manner that is responsive to local conditions and practices,” said group chairman Jonathan White.

The firm’s Bahrain office is headed by Paul Perris, who has moved from Ogier’s Jersey office.  The establishment of the Bahrain office follows the firm’s recent launch of a joint venture with professional services firm Keypoint Consulting, targeting Bahraini trusts.

Heading up Ogier Tokyo is Skip Hashimoto, who joins Ogier from another offshore law firm in Japan and has previously worked for Deutsche Bank.  Duncan Smith, managing partner Ogier Hong Kong said: “Our new Tokyo office will allow us to provide even better support for our clients in Japan and offers tremendous development potential. We are now in the fortunate position of being able to continue to support our Japanese clients with our international experience, but with enhanced local expertise.”

Ogier opened its Guernsey office in 1998, establishing the first Channel Islands law firm.  Ogier merged with Caymans firm Boxalls in 2004, completing a subsequent merger with British Virgin Islands firm WSmiths in 2007.  The firm now has some 800 employees, and a presence in eleven jurisdictions around the world: Bahrain, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jersey, London, Montevideo, New Zealand and Tokyo.