Clifford Chance has added Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu senior associate Yasuyuki Takayama to its Tokyo team. Takayama will join the firm on 1 July 2011.

Beginning his legal career at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T), Takayama then moved to the Bank of Japan to take up an in-house counsel role. He then worked at NO&T again briefly before becoming deputy director to Japan’s Financial Services Agency in 2007, returning to his first firm again in 2009.

Takayama’s practice includes capital markets, structured products and financial regulatory matters.

The firm’s Tokyo managing partner, Peter Kilner, said the firm’s hire of Takayama will be the first of many. “This is the first major hire since we restructured our practice for growth in Tokyo, and we expect to make further announcements in the coming months,” he said.