Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

As part of the big four Japanese firms, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune provides a litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution practice that has extensive experience in all facets of cases. The team frequently represents foreign clients in domestic disputes and offers a total dispute resolution service, from preliminary advice to conducting high-profile and complex trials. Its solid roster of quality attorneys include former judges and some of the top names in the market such as Hiroki Wakabayashi, Yoshimasa Furuta, Kenichi Sadaka, Shinji Kusakabe, Naoki Iguchi and Takeshi Sato.

The team’s domestic practice frequently engages in various litigation matters like financial transactions cases, international trade cases, intellectual property case, labour cases, tax cases, commercial cases, antitrust case and real property disputes among others. Its global practice is varied and possesses over 50 years experience counselling international business clients on their disputes.

For example, the team advised a Japanese importer in a product liability case filed by its customers in Japan. Anderson Mori lawyers filed a formal notice of lawsuit with the court as the manufacturer of the defective product was a third party German company. Another matter involved the team representing a Swiss-based bank against a Japanese trading house in a damage claim case seeking over ¥20 billion, one of the highest amounts ever disputed before the Japanese courts.

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto offers a well-regarded full-service dispute resolution practice that is highlighted by the market for its antitrust dispute expertise. The team represents clients in a wide range of disputes such as stockholder derivative actions, M&A lawsuits, shareholder agreements, internal disputes, labour disputes, IP, unfair competition, real estate, consumer protection, taxes, investor claims against false disclosure and liability of auditing professionals.

Alternative dispute resolution has flared up in Japan of late and the attorneys at Mori Hamada have gained a strong track record of handling arbitration and mediation cases for its clients. The team has a long history of representing Japanese corporate clients in multi-jurisdictional or international litigation and arbitrations occurring in an overseas forum in liaison with other leading international law firms. Key lawyers include Yoshio Iteya, Yoshiko Takagi and Masayuki Matsuda.

Nagashima Ohno & Tsunemtasu keeps an excellent dispute resolution practice that specialises in representing corporate clients. Major figures on team include Ijuin Isao, Jun Naitoh, Seiichiro Umeno and Masahiro Matsuoka. The firm offers comprehensive and experience-honed legal advice on a wide range of dispute resolution cases such as different types of domestic litigation, arbitration and mediation procedures, involving the commercial, civil, administrative, labour, pharmaceutical, environmental, product liability, construction, IP, securities, insurance, financing, and franchise sectors, matters arising during insolvency proceedings and criminal law cases.

In addition to local business entity representation, the firm has often acted for international players and their Japanese subsidiaries. In many cases, the practice will interact and cooperate with leading foreign law firms in other countries if its clients are facing lawsuits and disputes overseas.

Renowned lawyer Hiroyuki Tezuka heads up Nishimura & Asahi’s dispute resolution practice, one of the biggest of the domestic firms. The team covers a full spectrum of disputes work, from civil and commercial to tax, IP and international arbitrations. Particularly in civil and commercial disputes, the team has a solid track record being involved in high-profiles cases defending its clients’ interests. The practice offers a specialised expertise in product liability suits, defamation case, corporate governance litigation, conflicts on the control of corporations, breach of representations in M&A transactions, and derivative action cases. Along with Tezuka, Masakazu Iwakura is another leading name on the fine cast of 27 partners within the practice. Last year, the team welcomed Sueo Kito, the former department chief judge of the Tokyo High Court, Mitsuru Shishido, a former IP High Court judge, and another former Tokyo High Court judge Atsuhi Hosono.

A recent case highlight had a team advising the Sumitomo Trust & Banking in a six-year dispute with the national tax authority over the legality of withholding tax on securities repurchase transactions. The team won a final judgment for its client in October 2008 and this resulted in the recovery of US$80 million from the Supreme Court of Japan. Due to the impact of this decision, the government immediately proposed a change to the tax code.

The dispute resolution team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Tokyo is active in domestic and cross-border disputes. Under the capable watch of dispute resolution specialist Kazuki Okada, the practice provides for clients a solid record of experience in arbitration proceedings, insolvency, employment issues, commercial litigation and regulatory matters. Akiko Yamakawa is another top practitioner in this field. Key clients of the group include Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley Japan and Shinsei Bank.

A landmark case the team handled affected all of corporate Japan and was related to a Japanese court ruling on overtime compensation for white-collar employees. Both Okada and Yamakawa are well-known for their employment litigation expertise and currently the firm is handling a number of employment and general corporate related litigations.

Matsuo & Kosugi’s dispute resolution practice has amassed a solid reputation for quality advice in this area. Offering a broad range of dispute counsel, the practice excels in cases which are related to contracts, banking, IP infringement, securities transactions, and creditor and tort claims. The firm houses one of the domestic market’s most noted litigators, Tasuku Matsuo and other notable names on the team include Takeo Kosugi and Yasuhei Taniguchi, a Director at the International Council for Commercial Arbitration. The team has solid arbitration experience and has been involved in proceedings before the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association and the Construction Dispute Examination Committee among other alternative dispute resolution bodies.

Formerly known as Abe & Matsutome, the firm became Abe Wada & Watanabe in June 2009. The mid-size domestic firm has a strong dispute resolution experience in the areas of product liability, corporate, trade mark and patent infringement, unfair competition, and employment law. Clients of the practice include corporate entities and multinational businesses in numerous sectors such as automotive, telecommunications, high technology, sporting goods, medical equipment, information service, food, and entertainment.

Atsumi & Partners’ dispute resolution practice offers expert counsel on a wide spectrum of dispute matters. These include working with clients in relation to civil litigation matters, product liability, medical malpractice suits and damages compensation, corporate matters, finance, labour, administration, antitrust and criminal cases. The team additionally has a relevant track record in international arbitration representations across a range of fields. The team recently defended a marine freight company against a claim made by a dismissed employee.

Respected domestic firm TMI Associates offers a dispute resolution practice staffed by a growing team of bengoshi attorneys and benrishi lawyers. The team specialises in several areas of law including patent litigation, general IP litigation and dispute resolution related to antitrust law or labour and employment law. Leading lawyers in the group include Hidetoshi Masunaga and Atsushi Sato.