Historically, the legal needs of Japanese companies in their dealings with the United States were handled by the Tokyo offices of U.S. law firms or by U.S.-based law firms. However, starting around 2010, Japanese law firms began opening offices in the United States, where they not only met the legal needs of Japanese companies but also began handling the legal needs of U.S. companies in dealings with Japan. For this symposium, we have invited speakers from the offices of three Japanese law firms established in the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles to discuss opportunities and challenges of the California legal market from the perspective of Japanese law firms, as well as their strategies. This is the first time this topic has been the focus of a symposium at an American law school, making it a highly significant event. Furthermore, this symposium will cultivate relationships between our school and these law firms and provide our students who are interested in Japanese law firms with an opportunity to concretely consider their own career paths.
Moderator
Setsuo MiyazawaSenior Director Emeritus, Center for East Asian Legal Studies (CEALS)
Professor Setsuo Miyazawa is a legal sociologist whose scholarship spans criminal justice, legal ethics, legal education, corporate practice, and East Asian law and society. Educated at Hokkaido University and Yale, he has taught at leading universities in Japan and North America, directed UC Law San Francisco’s Center for East Asian Legal Studies, and helped establish the Asian Law and Society Association. His numerous honors include the Law and Society Association’s International Scholarship Prize, Stanton Wheeler Mentorship Award, and Legacy Award.
Speakers
Nobuki Takeuchi is a partner at TMI Associates Silicon Valley LLP, where he advises Japanese companies and investors entering the U.S. market and American startups expanding into Japan. His practice focuses on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, venture investment, and matters involving emerging companies.
Mikito IshidaManaging Partner, San Francisco Bay Area Office, Mori Hamada US LLP
Mikito Ishida is the Managing Partner of Mori Hamada US LLP’s San Francisco Bay Area office, where he advises on startup investments, private equity and venture capital fund formation, and cross-border M&A. His practice also encompasses fund regulation and structuring, M&A disputes, corporate governance, and general corporate matters.
Daisuke Wakamatsu is the head of Nozomi’s Los Angeles office. He has extensive experience in cross-border transactions including M&A, joint ventures and commercial agreements representing corporations in various industries. Further, he provides a wide range of legal advice to Japan-based businesses located in the U.S. including general corporate matters, labor and employment, business license/permits and privacy and data protection. Before joining Nozomi, he worked at international law firms and also worked as in-house counsel in Japan and the U.S.
Discussants
Tasha A. Yorozu is the Managing Attorney at Miura & Partners US, where she leads the firm’s corporate, M&A, technology and media licensing, and employment law practices. With more than 20 years of experience advising multinational companies on cross-border transactions, she specializes in representing Japanese corporations and their U.S. subsidiaries and has held leadership roles with the U.S.-Japan Council and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California.
Glen S. FukushimaDistinguished Practitioner, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University
Glen S. Fukushima is a Distinguished Practitioner at Stanford University’s Center for East Asian Studies and a leading expert on U.S.-Asia relations. A former Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan and China and longtime multinational business executive in Asia, he has also served twice as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
Center for East Asian Legal Studies (CEALS) at UC Law SF