Hiroki Wakabayashi is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, primarily representing both Japanese and non-Japanese financial institutions, audit corporations and business corporations in transaction disputes, professional responsibility disputes, labor relation disputes and other types of disputes, based on his experience as a lawyer as well as a judge. In addition to these corporate related disputes, he also practices in the areas of inheritance and domestic relations.

Tatsu Katayama is a partner whose areas of expertise are international banking, finance and securities matters on behalf of foreign clients. Mr. Katayama has been individually named as a leading lawyer in Japan in banking and finance and capital markets matters as well as real estate transactions in legal periodicals such as Chambers International and Euromoney. He often works together with overseas legal counsel on these matters and is well accustomed to meeting the needs of overseas clients as well as foreign-subsidiary domestic clients. Mr. Katayama served as the international director of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. He has expertise in cross border legal practices, anti-money laundering and other international aspects of bar issues.

Yasufumi Shiroyama is a partner who heads all aspects of the firm's intellectual property group practice, including: ・Drafting and arguing complaints, motions, answers and other pleadings for patent, trademark, copyright and know-how infringement litigation in district and appellate courts in Japan, on behalf of both Japanese and foreign companies; ・Drafting and arguing complaints, motions, answers and other pleadings for litigation arising in relation to technology transfer agreements, compensation for employee's invention, and allegedly defective products, etc. in district and appellate courts in Japan, on behalf of both Japanese and foreign companies; ・Drafting and negotiating various technology transfer agreements on behalf of both Japanese and foreign companies; ・Managing written discovery in cooperation with U.S. counsel for a Japanese client in patent license related litigation in U.S. federal court; ・Managing appellate litigation matters seeking nullification of decisions of the Japanese Patent Office; ・Drafting and arguing complaints, motions, answers and other pleadings in invalidation trial and opposition procedures before the Japanese Patent Office; and ・Advising on regulatory matters for pharmaceutical products, medical devices, chemical products, and personal data etc.

Kenichi Masuda has represented many local and foreign clients in a broad spectrum of businesses and industries. He has extensive experience in advising foreign clients and is familiar with cross-border issues. In particular, he regularly advises clients on mergers and acquisitions of listed and unlisted businesses (including, but not limited to, share acquisitions and divestments and business acquisitions and divestments for foreign clients where the target is a Japanese company or business), joint ventures and other cross-border investments, and corporate restructurings. His scope of experience also includes assisting and representing venture companies in various aspects including start-up, equity finance and initial public offerings, as well as establishing venture capital or other private equity funds, advising venture or other private equity funds on investments in Japanese businesses including high-tech businesses as well as distressed companies. He regularly provides legal services on employment and labor union relations (including representation of client companies at the court and other dispute resolution forum), real property transactions, intellectual property issues, general corporate matters (including corporate governance and compliance issues for listed companies) and commercial matters. Mr. Masuda served as a Committee Member for two committees organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for the purpose of stimulating venture business and investments into the venture business in Japan: the Committee for Improving the Business Environment for Private Equity Finance in Japan in 2000, which developed proposals for revisions to the Japanese corporate law, and the Committee for Examining Desirable Disclosure Systems of the Venture Business in Japan in 2001, which developed proposals for revisions to the Japanese Securities Exchange Law. Mr. Masuda also taught M&A as an adjunct lecturer at the Graduate School for Law and Politics of The University of Tokyo (2011-2013, 2014-2016).

Masaakira Kitazawa is an of counsel at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and specializes in banking, securities, general corporate and commercial law. He advises domestic and foreign clients on financial regulatory matters, including corporate governance and compliance as well as transactional work, acquisition and restructuring of corporate group entities, M&A, tender offers, private equity investments and securitization. Mr. Kitazawa was also involved in many public offerings, including IPOs and listings on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Among others, his projects and transactions include the following: Acting as chief legal advisor to a temporarily nationalized Japanese bank, which was subsequently privatized; providing ongoing advice to the subsequent entity in connection with all aspects of its business, including government relations, banking, commercial transactions, acquisitions and general advice to management. Acting as chief legal advisor to a major Japanese bank targeted by Japan’s first hostile (later non-hostile) tender offer initiated by a Japanese financial group. Advising a UK investment bank following its failure to abide by regulations in connection with Asian futures transactions. The work involved intense negotiations with Japanese financial authorities, the stock exchange and courts. Advising a major US financial institution on all aspects of its operations in Japan, including its consumer finance subsidiaries, acquisitions of other companies and issues related to compliance with stringent Japanese regulatory requirements. Advising a major UK based venture capital and private entity in connection with its establishment and subsequent investment activities in Japan. Securitization of real property and other assets owned by solvent and insolvent insurance companies on behalf of funds managed and administered by a major US investment bank. Advising the UK Government, issuers and/or underwriters on secondary offerings in privatization initiatives undertaken with respect to the electricity, gas and water sectors in the UK.

Capital markets transactions including private/public securities offerings, M&A transactions, general corporate matters and intellectual property

Isao Shindo is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, who has been involved principally in the fields of banking, securities transactions, asset management, insurance, trust and structured finance, as well as M&A projects involving financial institutions and insurance companies. Mr. Shindo has long experience representing a large number of Japanese and foreign financial firms with respect to various aspects of their businesses in Japan, including regulatory issues. Mr. Shindo is a pioneer in the area of advising financial institutions regarding global multi-currency loan facilities. Mr. Shindo has also acted as Japan counsel in relation to the merger of major global financial companies.

Kunihiko Morishita works primarily in the fields of domestic and international banking, securities and asset management. He has been named as a leading lawyer by several publications including the International Financial Law Review and Chambers’ “The World’s Leading Lawyers”, and is a member of the Financial Law Board, an influential advisory body regarding financial law matters sponsored by the Bank of Japan. Mr. Morishita has extensive experience in representing financial institutions, including investment management companies, before the Financial Services Agency and other Japanese regulatory authorities. He regularly advises a number of multinational financial institutions, located within and outside of Japan, in relation to regulatory issues in the fields of securities, trusts and asset management.

Hirohito Akagami is engaged principally in the fields of financial, corporate and commercial law, with an emphasis on M&A and securities work. Typically, these transactions involve Akagami representing the purchasers for a number of tender offers, which he has been doing for more than 20 years. He also advises clients in a number of domestic and cross-border syndicated loans, securities and other financial transactions, as well as on corporate governance-related matters and regulatory issues.

Kenichi Sadaka is a litigation partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, engaged mainly in international & domestic litigation, commercial arbitration and other dispute resolution procedures. Mr. Sadaka has represented many Japanese and foreign companies in Japan in matters concerning intellectual property issues (patents, copyrights, moral rights, publicity rights, medical import licenses, trademark, trade secrets, and unfair competition, etc.), real estate transactions, construction, labor (collective bargaining with labor unions, visa related issues, sexual harassment, dismissals, labor accidents, etc.), antimonopoly issues, disputes among management, disputes related to financial products, product liability, debt collections, inheritance, mortgage enforcement, defamation, professional malpractice, termination of distributorship agreements, international trade (LC and BL related matters), insurance, administrative remedies, and other matters. Mr. Sadaka also has experience in several overseas litigations, and has provided assistance in discovery procedures in Japan and in relation to companies in Japan. In addition to these civil dispute activities, Mr. Sadaka has conducted internal investigations for several companies in relation to intra-company crimes and, based upon such scrutiny, exposed criminal accusations for embezzlement, fraud, and similar actions. Mr. Sadaka also provides day-to-day legal service for general corporate legal affairs.

Hironori Shibata is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and is engaged principally in the fields of general corporate matters, international finance and cross-border M&A transactions, with an emphasis on international capital market, public offering and other transactions involving restructuring of financial business.

Yoshikazu Iwase joined Anderson Mori & Tomotsune after working with an intellectual property firm in Tokyo for three years. His litigation experience involves a number of patent infringement trials and revocation suits against the trial decisions of the Japanese Patent Office concerning patentability/validity of patents over various technologies. He has also been involved with a wide range of trademark/trade dress and copyright infringement suits, licensing and IP assets transfer transactions, and dispute resolution. Mr. Iwase has provided a wide range of advice regarding U.S. patent infringement issues in Japan. His experience also includes drafting and negotiating licensing, patent and various intellectual property transfer agreements, transactions and due diligence of intellectual property in the course of M&A deals.

Atsutoshi Maeda is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune who has been engaged in an extensive range of legal matters. In particular, he has provided general corporate advice on issues regarding various commercial laws, employment laws and compliance problems, as well as negotiated contracts in a broad range of industries and tackled disputes for domestic and overseas clients. Given the unique nature of Japanese business culture and legal and contract frameworks that are distinct from western practices, Mr. Maeda always clarifies what non-Japanese clients can expect and should not expect from contract negotiation, semi-contentious discussions, employment issues and/or with the handling of transactions. As such, for international clients, he always aims to demystify Japanese law and local market practice.

Mr. Inoue is a partner of Anderson Mori & Tomotsune who has been involved primarily and has extensive experience in the field of leveraged finance, private equity, and structured finance. He has also been involved in turnaround transactions and debt restructuring for insolvent enterprises.

Mr. Kuroda has been engaged in a broad range of matters at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune since he joined the firm in 2000. His works focus on general corporate, securities issue of domestic and international capital markets, advice regarding financial regulations and corporate litigation.

Ken Kobayashi has been involved in a wide range of corporate transactions from structured finance to capital markets and mergers and acquisitions. He has particular expertise in capital market transactions, such as issuance and offering of debt and equity securities in international and domestic markets, securitizations and other structured financing transactions, including Japanese REITs (real estate investment trusts).

Akira Moriwaki's legal practice in China first began in 1998, back when doing so was still a relatively rarity amongst Japanese lawyers. He continued to practice in Beijing until 2007, during which time, he dealt with a large variety of legal issues encountered by Japanese companies then entering into the Chinese market. Although the main focus of his work continues to remain in China related business matters, since returning to Japan he has used his unique experiences to widen his areas of interest to include other Asian jurisdictions, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Singapore and Myanmar. Akira is highly experienced in a wide range of fields, such as green-field direct investment into Asian jurisdictions, M&A, private equity and Competition law. Through over a decade of experience, he has come to be recognized as one of the foremost and most experienced Japanese lawyers in international trade issues, such as anti-dumping and countervailing duty. For over 3 years, Akira has provided invaluable support to Japan's ODA project relating to the promulgation of Chinese Company law, Competition law and other distribution regulations, and he was also involved in the promulgation of Tort Law of China. Since 2009, he has been conducting lectures in Mandarin Chinese as a visiting professor at Renmin University of China (RUC) Law School. In December 2012, he was ranked first in the "overall ranking" and second in the "companies choice ranking" under the Foreign Law division of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun "Most active lawyer of the year" awards.