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.

Leveraging his expertise in cutting-edge technologies such as AI and cybersecurity, Wataru Shimizu provides legal advice that is tailored to the practical needs of companies. He handles a wide range of issues from intellectual property (“IP”)-related agreements such as patent and know-how license agreements, software license agreements, and joint research and development agreements, to large-scale corporate alliances, as well as the development of business and IP strategies. In addition, he has handled a large number of legal and IP matters in Asia and emerging countries (in particular Mainland China and Southeast Asia). He also has extensive experience in general corporate law in areas such as corporate and labor law.

Sho Ando handles a wide range of employment and labor law matters, providing advice on general personnel and labor issues to both Japanese and international clients from a practical perspective. He has extensive experience in handling employment and labor disputes and dealing with labor unions. He is also highly experienced in conducting investigations related to employment and labor compliance, such as those concerning harassment and the misappropriation of confidential information by employees. Additionally, he has been involved in numerous M&A transactions involving employment and labor issues, including carve-out deals and matters related to the Act on the Succession to Labor Contracts upon Company Split. Furthermore, he focuses on the intersection of employment and labor law and other legal fields—such as M&A, Personal Information/Data Privacy, AI (HR Technology), and Economic Security—as well as on corporate pension law.

Kazuaki Nagai is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, and has been principally involved in various finance matters such as M&A Finance, Mezzanine Finance, structured finance including securitization and PFI (private finance initiatives). Mr. Nagai also has experience in various fund matters including PE funds and corporate rehabilitation funds, bankruptcy related matters including business rehabilitation and filing of petition for bankruptcy related proceedings, and M&A matters such as reorganization including business transfer and mergers, and subscription and acquisitions of equities including classified shares, and other corporate financial transactions, and general commercial transactions. Mr. Nagai is further engaged in finance matters in relation to energy and natural resources.

Junichi Kondo is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and is engaged principally in the fields of general corporate matters with an emphasis on M&A, joint venture and other corporate transactions including M&A-related financing. His scope of experience also includes healthcare matters including pharmaceutical regulations and software licensing.

Shinji Kusakabe specializes in advising on legal issues in manufacturing, such as commercial transactions and product liabilities. Mr. Kusakabe has a wealth of practical experience in litigation and arbitration, both international and domestic. Mr. Kusakabe's particular specialties lie in providing targeted advice to clients on corporate matters, taking into consideration potential future disputes, and in resolving current disputes in light of actual business practices and circumstances. Cases which Mr. Kusakabe has recently handled include lawsuits related to termination of commercial relationships, illegal transactions conducted by employees, product liability, bid-rigging conspiracies and inventions by employees. Mr. Kusakabe is also actively engaged in international arbitration, including matters arbitrated outside Japan. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Mr. Kusakabe's prior experience includes working as a Foreign Associate at Kelley Drye & Warren's New York office (September 1999 to August 2000) and a full-time secondment to Swiss Bank Corporation's (now UBS AG) Tokyo Legal & Compliance department (February to July 1998). Mr. Kusakabe also served as: Executive Director, the Headquarters for Comprehensive Promotion of Civil Justice Reform of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from June 2026); Member of the Advisory Committee for the Establishment of Civil Rules of the Supreme Court (from August 2025); Special Assistant to the President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from April 2025 to September 2025); President of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association (from April 2024 to March 2025); Vice President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from April 2024 to March 2025); Expert Member of the Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Review Board (from June 2022 to June 2023); Member of the Code of Civil Procedure (for Introduction of IT) Subcommittee of the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice (from June 2020 to February 2022); Governor of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from April 2020 to March 2021; Executive Governor from June 2020 to March 2021); Chair of the Committee on Civil Procedure of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from June 2019 to May 2021); Examiner for the National Bar Examination and the National Preliminary Bar Examination (in Charge of the Code of Civil Procedure) (from November 2018 to November 2021); Vice President of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association (from April 2017 to March 2018); and Practicing-Attorney-Professor for Civil Advocacy at the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan (from April 2010 to March 2013) (for details of this position, please visit http://www.courts.go.jp/english/institute_01/institute/index.html#Intro ).

Mr. Yoshinori Aoyagi is a partner working primarily in the fields of M&A including cross border transactions. He has also been advising on various corporate law related issues including shareholders meetings and corporate governance. He has also been involved with antitrust issues including merger control and has also been advising on healthcare and life science related issues.

Yoshiharu Usuki is a partner at Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune with broad experience in the area of antitrust/competition law. In the competition area, he is particularly experienced in Japan Fair Trade Commission cartel investigations and other foreign competition authority cartel investigations, bid rigging and other serious alleged violations. Also he is broadly experienced in anti-trust and competition matters relating to dominance regulations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, distribution agreements and license agreements. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune, he worked for the London law firm of Fieldfisher LLP, as a foreign lawyer (2014 to 2015).

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 (2019-2026) ・TMT (Technology, Media, Telecom) - The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2021-2026) ・Intellectual Property (Japan) - Asialaw Profiles (2021-2026) 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.

Masayuki holds a master's degree in science, and has been engaged in a number of patent infringement lawsuits and other IP related matters since he became a lawyer. His main focus is on the pharmaceutical industry, in patent infringement actions as well as licensing negotiations, joint development projects, and technology transfer projects. He also has expertise and experience in other forms of intellectual property, including trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. In addition, with his experience in the U.S. (both in law school and at a law firm focusing on patent matters), he also provides advice to clients involved in patent lawsuits in the U.S.