Takafumi Okuda joined Mori Hamada & Matsumoto as of August 1, 2016 in the role of special counsel.

Until his retirement from the position of director of Yokohama District Court in June 2016, Mr. Okuda was at the forefront of civil judicial practice, handling a great number of cases during his time as chief judge at Tokyo District Court and Tokyo High Court.

By welcoming Mr. Okuda as a special counsel, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto will further endeavor to provide our clients with even higher levels of legal services in corporate-related litigation.

Having served the court for over 40 years, I retired from my final position as the director of Yokohama District Court upon reaching retirement age on June 18, 2016. I am honored to be joining Mori Hamada & Matsumoto as a special counsel. After being appointed judge in April 1976 and assigned to Tokyo District Court, I was assigned to various courts in Japan, where I mainly oversaw civil and family cases. In that period, I was assigned to Tokyo High Court three times for a total period of almost nine years, during which I saw a wide variety of cases and was given many opportunities to look objectively at litigation management by judges and litigation activities by attorneys. I also taught younger colleagues as professor in charge of civil affairs courses at the Legal Training and Research Institute and the Court Clerk Research and Training Institute and was involved in judicial administration as director of district courts and director general of the Legal Training and Research Institute during my service. I was fortunate to meet many people from various parts of Japan and these meetings have enriched my life. Now, I am looking forward to utilizing the knowledge and experience I have gained through my duties as judge, and I will do my best to attend diligently to my duties as an attorney-at-law at the firm.