S&E roots for globalisation and localisation
Multicultural Sonderhoff & Einsel Law and Patent Office is the only Japanese patent law firm with a strategic partner office in Beijing, and is keen to develop international partnerships
[Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports www.discoveryreports.com]
A pioneer in the tightly closed market that was 20th century Japan, Sonderhoff & Einsel Law and Patent Office (S&E) knows the local pulse very well. The firm has prospered in the world’s third-largest economy for more than a century through inbound cases from Europe and is now backing more home-grown businesses towards a future as international players.
Auspiciously, that journey takes its Japanese clientele to Europe, where S&E founders trace their roots and the firm has a presence. S&E is likewise differentiated as the only Japanese patent law firm with a strategic partner office in Beijing to support forays into China.
“Our strength is that we still have relationships that go back to 1910,” says Felix Einsel, S&E managing partner. “We have the direct contact to European companies.”
“Internationalisation was a key factor for our firm, but we said we should also localise”
S&E also has a multicultural team and partners all over the world that speak the local language, whether that is Putonghua, German, English or Nihongo. The full-service firm largely manages intellectual properties of listed Japanese companies. S&E acquired a local firm in 2008, and has since enjoyed compatriot goodwill. Today, one-third of its clients are Japanese companies, including many mid-sized companies across Japan.
