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.

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.

Hideki Thurgood Kanoh has been practicing in the area of labor and employment and currently devotes his practice exclusively to this area from the viewpoint of employers and companies (instead of employees and workers), such as follows: I. Collective Labor-Matters (Collective Bargaining Sessions with Labor Unions, Concerted Activities (Strike, Picketing, and so on) of Labor Unions) II. Individual Employment Matters (Dismissal and Voluntary Resignation, Disciplinary Actions, Internal Transfer, External Secondment, Confusion between Workers Dispatch and Service-Providing Contract, Job Search, Employment of Aged People and Disabled People, Establishment of Wage Payment Systems and Retirement Benefit Systems, Implementation of Pay-per-Performance Systems, Sexual Harassment, Bullying, Mental Health, Occupational Safety and Health, Preparation of and Amendment to Work Rules of Employment, Preparation of Employment Contracts, Fixed-Term Employment Contracts, Executive Service Agreements, Prevention of Infringement of Corporate Data by Employees, Companies’ Protection and Transfer of Employees’ Data, Companies’ Rights Subsisting in Employees’ Invention or Works of Authorship, Whistle-blowing, Employment of Non-Japanese Workers and their Residing Permit, etc.) III. Labor Insurance, Social Insurance and Pension Plans (Workers Accident Compensation Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, Health Insurance, Welfare Pension Insurance, Defined Contribution Pension Plan, Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Welfare Pension Fund, Tax-Qualified Retirement Pension, etc.) IV. Labor and Employment Related Dispute Resolution and Litigation (Labor-Related and Employment-Related Litigation, Mediation on Individual Employment Dispute, Employment Tribunal Dispute Resolution, Remedy for Unfair Labor Practices, etc.) Thurgood acts on behalf of both Japanese and non-Japanese multinational companies, advising them on all aspects of labor and employment. Although he advises companies on ways to avert formal labor and employment disputes, he is also an experienced labor and employment litigator, having successfully defended many cases. He has written and lectured extensively on labor and employment matters in addition to matters unrelated to labor and employment law.

Teruma Naito’s practice focuses on international and domestic project finance, cross-border finance, corporate and equity finance transactions in the area of power, water, oil and gas, infrastructure, shipping, export credit financings and insurance. He has extensive experience working for a magic circle law firm in England and Tokyo and has a broad range of experience in cross-border financings and corporate matters in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America. He is fluent in English and Japanese.

Counsel to numerous debtors, creditors, creditors’ committees and equity holders for more than three decades in cases involving a wide spectrum of industries including banking, retail, real estate, construction, housing, golf resort, hotel, manufacturing, and cross-border enterprises. In recent years, served as liquidator in some of the largest bankruptcy cases in Japan. Practice also includes dispute resolution, commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and labor issues. Frequently speaks on legal topics pertaining to insolvency and bankruptcy and has written expensively on the Corporate Reorganization Act, the Civil Rehabilitation Act and the Bankruptcy Act of Japan. Recognized as a leading restructuring and insolvency lawyer in Japan by Chambers Asia Pacific.

Yusuke Nakano is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, with broad experience in the areas of antitrust, business dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property. In the antitrust area, he has particularly broad experience in cartel investigation and merger control, including international ones. Further, Mr. Nakano has assisted many Japanese companies and individuals involved in antitrust cases in foreign jurisdictions, in close cooperation with co-counsel in those jurisdictions. He has also represented various companies in administrative, civil and criminal litigation, mass and complex litigation, innovative mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and licensing arrangements. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Mr. Nakano worked for the New York law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, as a foreign intern (2001 to 2002).

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.

Kagayaki Funakoshi has been engaged in a broad range of matters including equity and debt offerings in both domestic and international capital markets, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, capital and business alliances, support to start-ups, Japanese REITs, securities regulations, IT, securities litigations, shareholders' meetings and other general corporate matters.

Akihito Miyake focuses on all aspects of legal issues related to the asset management businesses. He has significant experience in providing legal services and advice in relation to formation, offering and distribution of various types of investment funds both in and outside of Japan, registration of asset managers and distributors acting in Japan, operations of financial instruments business operators regulated in Japan, business deployment in the Japanese market and inbound investments by foreign asset managers, as well as outbound investments by domestic investors. His experience also encompasses support in various capital market transactions and financing projects. Additionally, Mr. Miyake has worked extensively on general corporate matters at various phases of corporate activities ranging from ordinary course of business to corporate crisis situation.

Vassili Moussis is an English qualified lawyer who is registered to practise law in Japan. His practice focuses on EU and international competition law with a particular emphasis on inbound and outbound merger control and international cartel matters. He is also advising on a wide range of issues including energy related issues, distribution arrangements, intellectual property and other commercial matters, which often have an international dimension. Vassili is recognised as a leading individual for antitrust and competition law in Japan by Chambers and Legal 500 Asia-Pacific. Clients have praised him for "his technical knowledge, commercial awareness, effectiveness and client service" as well as for being "a great bridge between Japan and the rest of the world", Chambers, Asia-Pacific 2020 and 2021.

Takashi Akahane is a partner, whose practice includes Project Finance, Private Finance Initiatives and various financial transactions. Mr. Akahane also advises various Japanese ministries, municipalities, and multinationals regarding PPP (public private partnership) and social and economic infrastructure projects.

Ko Wakabayashi is a partner with broad experience in international M&A and other cross-border corporate matters. He is fully-bilingual and has represented various overseas companies especially in joint venture, M&A and strategic alliance matters by focusing on efficiently managing and integrating not only legal but also multi-jurisdictional business and corporate cultural needs, especially in deal execution and post-merger integration (PMI) phases.

Takeshi handles finance and corporate transactions, and has significant experience advising on a variety of matters, including public and private M&As, joint ventures and fintech advisory matters. His clients range from prominent financial institutions to virtual currency start-ups. Between 2013 and 2014 Takeshi, was seconded to the Disclosure Department of the Financial Services Agency of Japan, where he was part of a team that revised the laws and guidelines governing disclosure by listed companies, and prepared the Japanese Stewardship Code. Additionally, he has experience, on secondment, at the legal department of major Japanese securities firm from 2015 to 2017, where he handled a broad range of finance and corporate transactions. As a result of the exposure gained on these secondments, Takeshi is often sought for his advice on finance-related matters, with particular focus on the regulator’s point of view. Recently, Takeshi has also been advising on virtual currency laws, including registration requirements applicable to virtual currency exchange service providers, regulations for initial coin offerings, and the like.

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.

Yukiko Imazu focuses her practice in the area of labor and employment and acts on behalf of both Japanese and non-Japanese companies in advising on labor and employment issues. She is also an experienced labor and employment litigator, having successfully defended many cases. She also gives seminars and training sessions regarding labor and employment matters tailored to clients' needs, both in Japanese and English. Especially, she gives a lot of harassment prevention seminars to non-Japanese companies, Japanese companies, Japanese governmental bodies and universities.

Hiroaki Takahashi is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and has been engaged in the broad areas of structured finance including securitization of various assets, real estate investment, project finance and PPP/PFI. In addition, he has handled numerous finances, M&As and joint ventures relating to development of resources and energy in and outside Japan.

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.

Ken Kawai has extensive experience advising financial institutions, fintech startups, investors and corporate clients on complex finance and financial regulatory matters. Ken's focuses primarily on the fintech industry, and regularly advises fintech companies, financial institutions, international organizations and industry organizations on legal issues surrounding fintech, including the complex legal framework governing cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and blockchain. Ken also specializes in derivatives, and has counseled global banks, broker-dealers and investors on regulatory matters and best practices in respect of derivatives and related products. He derives his deep and practical knowledge in this area from his 17-year career at MUFG Bank, Ltd. (formerly known as The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and, prior to that, The Bank of Tokyo Ltd.), where he was involved in derivatives trading and marketing. Ken's practice also involves corporate bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganizations. He has represented debtors or creditors in several insolvency cases that involve complex financial transactions and cross-border issues. He also advises several G-SIFIs and related institutions on Bank Recovery and Resolution Regimes.

Taro Awataguchi is well experienced in advices on various finance transactions including asset-based lending, and representation of large creditors and strategic buyers in major financial restructuring cases. In the corporate reorganization case of Spansion Japan Limited (semi-conductor manufacturer), he represented the first-ever secured creditors committee officially admitted in the history of Japanese corporate reorganization cases and achieved full recovery plus award through contribution for successful business reorganization of the reorganization company. He also has been repeatedly appointed by the Tokyo District Court as the trustee in bankruptcy, including a notable bitcoin-related case. Taro has extensive experience in disputes and litigations as well in the matters of finance, insolvency and corporate law. He was included in the 2018 Edition of The Best Lawyers in Japan for banking and finance law. He is a fluent speaker at important domestic and international conferences on finance and insolvency law, and has experience of teaching the Companies Act of Japan in a university. He is the head of the operating committee of ABL Association in Japan.

Utilizing his twelve years of experience in the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutors' Office, Mr. Kikawa represents domestic and foreign clients in administrative and criminal investigations by enforcement agencies, and in complex commercial, administrative, and consumer disputes. He also has extensive experience in advising on internal investigations of corporate scandals and compliance with various regulations. Although his range of legal practice is broad, he has been particularly busy in the fields set out below. Advertising, Labeling, and Marketing Regulations (Consumer Protection Laws) Mr. Kikawa provides wide-ranging advice about the Premiums and Representations Act, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act, Medical Care Act, Health Promotion Act, Unfair Competition Prevention Act, Specified Commercial Transactions Act, Consumer Contract Act, and related laws regulating the advertising, labeling, and marketing activities of entities. He also has extensive experience responding to administrative investigations regarding misrepresentation and extravagant advertising (puffing) brought by the Consumer Affairs Agency, Fair Trade Commission, regional governments, public health centers, and similar agencies. From 2017, Mr. Kikawa has been a member of the Medical Advertising Rules Study Group of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. E-commerce (Internet Business) Mr. Kikawa handles myriad legal issues arising from internet sales, web-media, portal sites, reservation sites, and other e-commerce. He has broad experience with the legal issues relating to e-commerce, including legal services such as reviews of advertising expression on product landing pages and web-media articles, drafting of use rules, privacy policies, and related agreements, and responses to online defamation. Consumer Group Disputes Mr. Kikawa advises numerous companies on injunction actions and Japan class actions by qualified consumer groups regarding misrepresentation and unfair agreement provisions. Medical and Health Care Regulations Based on his experience with medical disputes at the Tokyo Prosecutors Office, as the prosecutor in charge of cases involving medical patient death and violations of regulations under the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act and Medical Care Act, he represents medical institutions in medical malpractice disputes, advises on import and sale restrictions on medical products and devices, and restrictions on promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies, and handles other legal issues relating to medical and health care. Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act When Mr. Kikawa was an officer in the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, he was in charge of drafting the bill and dealing with the Diet for the 2009 revisions to the Immigration Control Act, and based on that experience, gives advice regarding legal issues connected with visas for foreign employees and visas for foreign performers and presenters invited to events in Japan.

Hiroki Kodate is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and engaged principally in the fields of M&A and general corporate matters, and regularly advises both Japanese and non-Japanese clients in this regard. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Mr. Kodate worked for the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, where he was in charge of the legislative project to modernize Japanese corporate laws (2002-2005). He also worked for Slaughter and May in London as a foreign secondee (2000-2001).

Mr. Keita Tokura is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune with extensive experience in Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions and related financial transactions. He has been playing important roles in a number of public deals in Japan (including going private transactions and mergers of equals). He has a depth of knowledge and experience in M&As and investments in high-tech sector.

Mr. Nakamachi is a fully bilingual and bicultural attorney and possesses over 30 years of solid experience as a practicing lawyer in the United States and Japan. He has the rare distinction among Japanese lawyers of having served as a partner at top-tier law firms in both of the two countries. He has special expertise in intellectual property/technology transactions for technology-driven clients, ranging from young start-ups to fully-matured global enterprises. Aki represents clients operating in a wide range of industries, including software, Internet, e-commerce, computer gaming, computer equipment, telecommunications, automobile, semiconductor, pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices. With over 10 years of work experience at first-tier national U.S. law firms across the United States, Aki has acquired exceptionally deep and practical knowledge of not only the laws but also the "business culture" of both the United States and Japan, and utilizes his expertise to assist clients in achieving successful outcomes in cross-border commercial transactions and dispute resolution matters.

Kazutoshi Kakuyama is an of counsel at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, and has a general practice on behalf of domestic and overseas clients, specializing in labor and employment law and general corporate matters.

Minoru Kobayashi’s practice focuses on real estate, capital markets and structured finance transactions, such as real estate non-recourse loans, establishment of real estate funds, including Japanese REITs (real estate investment trusts), issuance and offering of debt and equity securities in international and domestic markets and complex securitizations. His practice has also included a wide range of corporate transactions, including corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, licensing and international trade.

Mr. Aoi Inoue is a partner and the Head of the International Arbitration practice at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune. He specializes in international arbitration and litigation. He represents clients in a wide range of business disputes, including joint venture, distributorship, licensing, franchising, construction projects, complex financial products, labor & employment and product liability. He has acted as counsel in a number of international arbitrations under various rules including the ICC, AAA-ICDR, SIAC, HKIAC, JCAA, VIAC and UNCITRAL. He also serves as arbitrator and has been appointed to the panel of arbitrators of the JCAA, KCAB INTERNATIONAL and Japan Sports Arbitration Agency (JSAA). He has been recognized as a leading arbitration lawyer in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration, Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500: Asia Pacific, Best Lawyers and Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific. Mr. Inoue also acts for overseas clients seeking to expand into Japan through international franchising. His support includes structuring, negotiating and drafting relevant documents such as international direct franchise agreements, international master franchise agreements and joint venture agreements. He also assists Japanese clients seeking to expand into foreign countries through international franchising. Mr. Inoue has been nominated for inclusion in the list of recognized franchise lawyers of the Who's Who Legal: Franchise.

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).

Reiji Takahashi specializes in financial transaction, in particular, project finance and Private Finance Initiatives (PFI). Mr. Takahashi represented national government, local governments, private companies or banks in many PFI projects including all prison projects initiated by Ministry of Justice, Haneda air terminal project, which is the largest PFI project in Japan, satellite project, etc. Mr. Takahashi also has extensive experience advising on renewable energy projects, IPP project, resource development and water sector business.

Kunihiro Yokoi advises on a wide range of legal matters in various areas, such as energy and infrastructure, financings, construction, PFI/PPP and other corporate/commercial matters. He has special expertise in energy and infrastructure projects and project finance transactions, ranging from power, renewable energy, natural resources, oil and gas, transportation, ports, other infrastructure and real estate matters, working with domestic and international clients. He has acquired abundant practical experience in advising on a broad and complex array of legal issues, as well as practical issues, throughout his practice career, including his secondments to both domestic and overseas firms. He is able to leverage his expertise to assist clients in achieving their goals in respect to project development and operations, commercial contracts, joint ventures, M&A transactions, financial matters, regulatory compliance and dispute resolution matters.

Hikaru Naganuma is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune who has been engaged in an extensive range of corporate matters, with an emphasis on securitization of real properties and receivables, project finance, syndicated loans, real estate transactions and M&A transactions. He has also assisted both domestic and overseas clients in a variety of cross-border transactions in the areas of real estate investment, banking and corporate acquisitions.

Tetsuya Itoh is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune with more than 10 years of experience involved principally in the fields of financial, commercial and corporate transactions with coverage of regulatory affairs. Mr. Itoh has represented lenders, arrangers, agents, trustees, equity investors, originators and other related parties in a number of asset transactions including REITs, real estate funds and construction finance, and additionally has experience in corporate acquisitions including those made in the course of insolvency proceedings.

Fujiaki Mimura has a major insolvency and restructuring practice as court-appointed trustee in numerous cases throughout Japan. His practice focuses on all aspects of insolvency, corporate reorganization, civil rehabilitation, bankruptcy, voluntary liquidation and other insolvency and acquisitions. His industry focus includes corporations throughout Japan as well as golf resorts, healthcare and other real estate firms. Fujiaki also advises clients on shareholder rights, compliance and procedures for Japanese annual shareholder meetings, served as a shareholder-meeting examiner and statutory auditor. He has broad experience as a seasoned commercial litigator. In 1991, he established the Law Offices of Fujiaki Mimura which later merged to become Sakai & Mimura.

Eiichiro Nakatani is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, and advises and assists various domestic and cross border contracts and transactions, with an emphasis on international taxation matters. Ranked as the leading global tax lawyer by the Tax Directors Handbook for many years. Ranked in Band 1 of the Leading Individuals, Tax, Japan of "Chambers Asia" for many years.

Koji Fujita is a partner specializes in tax and tax related matters on cross-border transactions.

Mr. Goto has an exceptional background as a Japanese lawyer with an academic background in both science and engineering, and professional experience working in the intellectual property department of a major electronics company. Mr. Goto’s practice covers a wide range of complex intellectual property and technology/data related matters, including disputes concerning patents, licensing, trade secrets, trademark and technology related antitrust claims, as well as various data privacy/protection issues. He also has broad experience in various regulatory matters as well as product liability issues involving chemical substances, pharmaceutical products and other industrial products. Mr. Goto is recommended for: ・Intellectual Property (Japan) - Chambers Global (2019-2024) ・TMT (Technology, Media, Telecom) - The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2021-2024) ・Intellectual Property (Japan) - Asialaw Profiles (2021-2024) Since 2017, Mr. Goto has been serving as the vice chair of Standing Committee on Trade Secret of AIPPI. In addition to being admitted to the bar in Japan (2008) and the state of New York (2014), he passed the Japanese Patent Attorney Examination in 2003.

Akira Tanaka particularly specializes in tax. He has broad experience and expertise in various tax practices, ranging from tax planning to tax litigation. He also has extensive experience working on general dispute resolution matters. He has represented numerous Japanese and foreign companies in litigation and other dispute resolution procedures, in areas such as international transactions, M&A and financial transactions.

Fraud Investigation/Crisis Management With his background as a public prosecutor, an investigator at the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) and a fraud investigator/forensic accountant at a Big 4 accounting firm, Hidetaka specializes on investigation of white collar crimes and fraudulent activities such as accounting fraud, market manipulation, insider trading, embezzlement, bribery and cybercrime and handles government inquiries of criminal and administrative authorities. Disclosure Regulations/ Accounting and Auditing With his experience in enforcing disclosure regulations in accounting frauds as an SESC investigator and addressing fraud risk in financial statements audit procedures at a Big 4 accounting firm, Hidetaka advises on disclosure regulations and accounting and auditing issues. Financial Regulations With his experience of being seconded to a foreign asset management and to a domestic major bank, investigation experience of foreign institutional investors' market manipulation and other fraudulent trade and foreign financial institutions' excessive entertainment for public pension fund, Hidetaka generally advises on financial regulations. Compliance Hidetaka generally advises on enhancement of compliance program to address bribery risk, antitrust risk and other compliance risk in response to foreign and domestic enforcements and on issues related to Japanese companies' management of their foreign subsidiaries.