K&L Gates, the US-based international law firm, which has a wide range of practices including private client work, real estate and banking, has continued its international expansion with launching of its new Moscow and Tokyo offices.

The firm’s Tokyo office will initially focus in the corporate and international finance, mergers and acquisitions, banking, private equity, real estate acquisitions, licensing and distribution arrangements, and general corporate and employment law areas, the firm said in a statement. The office comprises of more than 80 legal professional and includes the addition of corporate partners from Latham & Watkins: Ryan Dwyer, Takahiro Kawaguchi and Robert Melson, who is based in the firm’s Singapore office.

“Japan is an important market for our global and regional Asia clients, and the addition of a Tokyo office allows K&L Gates to provide comprehensive legal service across Asia. The addition of these partners, with their experience in Japanese and cross-border practice, enhances our growing footprint in Asia,” said David Tang, the firm’s managing partner, Asia.

K&L Gates’ Moscow office will assist domestic and international companies in areas that include general corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, private equity, capital markets and securities transactions, banking and finance, energy, real estate and infrastructure, telecommunications, and information technology.

Joining the firm in establishing the its Moscow office are corporate partners Robert Langer and William Reichert, counsel Marina Lebedeva, and associates Anna Ryabtseva, Svetlana Vorobyeva, and Valeria Chukova. The Moscow lawyers join the firm from Haynes and Boone.

“We are pleased to have recruited such an experienced and cohesive team to establish K&L Gates’ Moscow office. This development takes us into another major strategic market with exciting growth prospects,” said Martin Lane, K&L Gates’ managing partner, Europe.

“With our new Tokyo and Moscow offices, we will enter nations and parts of the world that are strategically important to K&L Gates’ global clientele,” said Peter Kalis, the firm’s chairman and global managing partner.

Last year the firm opened offices in Frankfurt, Singapore and Dubai.