Former Baker & McKenzie Partner Christopher Hodgens Joins Atsumi & Sakai

Former Baker & McKenzie Partner Christopher Hodgens Joins Atsumi & Sakai

Atsumi & Sakai has announced the recruitment of Christopher Marc Hodgens, a registered foreign lawyer for the state of New South Wales and Australian federal law, as a Partner.

Hodgens brings over 30 years of legal experience, with a focus on hotel management agreements and M&A, significantly strengthening the firm’s real estate and hospitality practice. He has extensive expertise in advising clients on hotel and branded residence projects, as well as cross-border corporate and commercial transactions in Japan.

For the past 25 years, Hodgens worked with Baker & McKenzie in Tokyo, assisting both global and domestic clients in acquiring, divesting, and managing assets across various sectors, particularly hotels and real estate. Notably, he acted as lead counsel for InterContinental Hotels Group in its acquisition of a majority stake in a joint venture with All Nippon Airways (ANA), co-branding ANA’s portfolio of 13 owned and leased hotels. He also advised APG Asset Management on the acquisition of a 20% stake in the data center platform OneAsia.

Atsumi & Sakai, based in Tokyo, operates as a foreign law joint venture, allowing the admission of foreign lawyers as Partners. The firm has a team of more than 200 lawyers, including 23 foreign partners and associates.