Covington & Burling hired Taisuke “Tai” Kimoto from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman as co-head of the firm’s Japan initiative. The Los Angeles corporate attorney will lead the initiative alongside senior of counsel Ichiro “Ike” Morinaga.

Kimoto, who specializes in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, aims to expand Covington’s M&A transactions with Japanese companies at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic and a declining population is triggering an uptick in deals.