southgate was founded in January 2016 to offer its clients a new business model for law firms in Tokyo: a boutique law firm devoted to cross-border matters composed of Japanese and US lawyers who had successful careers at international firms. In adopting this business model, southgate seeks to provide legal counsel consistent with international standards not only for large-cap cross-border M&A deals, but also for the small- and mid-cap cross-border M&A deals that are being overlooked by today’s legal market in Japan.