Kenneth Siegel, a partner in Morrison & Foerster LLP's Japan practice, fought off attempts by Dish Network LLC to acquire Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. during a bid by SoftBank, paving the way for the largest outbound Asia merger in history and earning him a spot on Law360's 2013 list of M&A MVPs.

Siegel, who graduated University of Chicago Law School, leads a team of 50 M&A attorneys in the 125-lawyer Tokyo practice, the biggest foreign office in Japan, according to the firm. He said that more people on staff meant giving each client extra care and attention, leading to increased loyalty. Japanese clients tend to have stronger and more lasting relationships with their law firms, once trust in their competence has been established, he said.

Originally published in Law360, New York on November 22, 2013.