Five Morrison Foerster Lawyers Named IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2023 – Asia Pacific

IFLR1000 has named Marcia Ellis, Nozomi Oda, Shirin Tang, Keiko Yamazaki, and Vivian Yiu as Women Leaders in the sixth annual publication of IFLR1000 Women Leaders. IFLR1000 Women Leaders recognizes women who are at the top of their profession in their fields locally, have impressive track records, and are consistently recommended by clients and peers for the quality of their advice and service. MoFo is among the very few law firms with five winners in the region.

Hong Kong-based Marcia Ellis is the global co-chair of MoFo’s Private Equity Group and focuses her practice on private equity transactions and complex mergers and acquisitions involving companies, real estate, and other assets located in Asia. She has appeared on the list every year since it was first published in 2018, and was recognized for her expertise in the areas of M&A and private equity. Marcia was also recently named the Most Innovative Legal Practitioner in the Asia-Pacific region at the Financial Times Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers 2023 Awards and named Private Equity Lawyer of the Year at Law.com International’s 2023 Asia Legal Awards. She is also co-chair of AmCham HK’s Women of Influence Steering Committee, advocating for women’s empowerment and advancement in the workplace.

Tokyo-based partner Nozomi Oda’s practice focuses on cross-border public and private M&A, joint ventures, strategic investments, and capital markets transactions with a particular emphasis on advising private equity and life sciences clients. Nozomi serves as co-head of Morrison Foerster’s Asia Private Equity practice. She is recommended in the 2023 edition of The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Japan: Corporate and M&A and has also been recognized in The Best Lawyers in Japan.

Singapore Managing Partner Shirin Tang has over 21 years of experience in private equity and M&A transactions across Asia and the United States in the United States, Southeast Asia, and China. She is highly regarded in the market for handling complex and innovative transactions, including capital raising platforms, joint ventures and club deals, portfolio restructuring, and exits.  In addition to being highly ranked in all leading legal directories, Shirin was named Lawyer of the Year for Mergers and Acquisitions Law 2024, by Best Lawyers in Singapore, and one of Asia’s Top 15 Female Lawyers in 2022, by Asian Legal Business.

Keiko Yamazaki is a partner based in MoFo’s Tokyo office. She has extensive experience in corporate and commercial transactions, advising principally on M&A and real estate finance and regularly representing major Japanese banks and mezzanine financing companies on financing for both domestic and outbound acquisitions. Keiko is ranked in the 2023 editions of Chambers Asia-Pacific, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, and The Best Lawyers in Japan.

Vivian Yiu is based in Hong Kong and has more than 20 years of experience advising on a broad range of corporate transactions, including significant experience in Hong Kong capital markets primary and secondary offerings, PIPEs, public M&A transactions (including takeovers and privatizations), and other M&A transactions. Vivian is recommended in the 2023 edition of The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Japan: Corporate and M&A and Capital Markets (Equity).

Women Leaders is a supplement to IFLR1000’s research guide to the world’s leading financial and corporate law firms and lawyers. The women who are selected for the list are considered to be among the best legal professionals in their areas of practice. Each year, IFLR1000 evaluates lawyers and firms on the basis of transactional experience and market feedback, surveying more than 50,000 referees.

MoFo has long championed the advancement of women within the legal profession. Creating an inclusive culture that supports the growth and development of talented women lawyers is at the heart of our shared values and commitment. We are recognized as one of the Best Law Firms for Women by Seramount for the 14th time in 2023, including every year since 2014. We are one of the law firms that has been recognized 10 times or more, which, as of 2019, earned us a designation on the Hall of Fame list.