Bar Association Activities

Many of our lawyers engage in pro bono activities in addition to their regular duties at the firm. Examples of activities in 2014 are provided below.

・Hiroko Yamamoto served as a member of the International Legal Cooperation Center of the Committee on International Relations, Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
・Shigehiko Ishimoto served as a member of the International Affairs Promotion Center, Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
・Katsuyuki Shibata served as a member of the Criminal Defense Center, Japan Federation of Bar Association; the Chairperson of the Committee on Lay Judge System, Daini Tokyo Bar Association; and the Chairperson of the Conference on Lay Judge System for the three bar associations in Tokyo.
・Takafumi Ochiai served as a member of the steering committee of the Arbitration Center, Daini Tokyo Bar Association.

During 2014, a total of 49 of the firm’s lawyers served as duty attorneys in 6 case and as court-appointed defense counsel in 21 cases, and provided free legal counsel in 12 cases.

Public Sector Activities

Many lawyers at the firm serve in internships at governmental offices or serve as members of various councils, research groups and advisory panels that participate in planning policies and drafting legislation.

■ Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
・Shigehiko Ishimoto served as a member of the Subcommittee on Unfair Trade Policies and Measures, Industrial Structure Council, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
・Minoru Sawaguchi served as a member of the “Subcommittee on Examining Best Practice for General Meetings of Shareholders” in the Study Group on Promotion of Dialog Between Companies and Investors for Sustainable Growth, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
・One lawyer was newly seconded to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2014 (in total, four lawyers were on secondment to METI in 2014).

■ Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)
・Kaoru Matsuzawa served as an Adviser for governance reinforcement of the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Pension Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
・Shuya Nomura served as an Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

■ Ministry of Justice (MOJ)
・Ayako Ikeda served as a member of the Subcommittee for Legislation on International Jurisdiction (Regarding Personal Status Litigation Cases and Domestic Dispute Cases), Legislative Council, Ministry of Justice.
・Shuya Nomura served as a member of the Commercial Code (regarding transportation and maritime trade) Subcommittee, Legislative Council, Ministry of Justice.
・Some of the firm’s lawyers (listed below) prepared an English version of the section regarding the proposed revisions to the Myanmar Companies Act, which was included in the 2013 report on the study commissioned by the Ministry of Justice that was prepared and submitted by the firm in connection with the Project.
MHM lawyers involved:
Takeshi Mukawa; Takeshi Komatsu; Satoshi Nakamura; Kana Manabe; Tomohiro Bundo; Aki Tanaka; Naoto Shimamura; and Reina Fujita.

■ Financial Services Agency (FSA)
・Three lawyers were newly seconded to the Financial Services Agency in 2014 (in total, six lawyers were on secondment to the FSA in 2014).

■ Consumer Affairs Agency
・One lawyer was on secondment to the Consumer Affairs Agency in 2014.

■ Other public organizations
・Satoshi Kawai served as the Director of the Japan ADR Association.
・Satoshi Nakamura served as the Director of The Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs.
・Junichi Tobimatsu served as a Board Member of the Japan Association of Arbitrators.
・Takeshi Mukawa served as a member of the Companies Act Advisory Group for the JICA Legal and Judicial Development Assistance Project in Myanmar.
・Takane Hori served as a Specialist Member of the Financial System Council (Working Group on Advancements in Payment and Other Related Services).
・Kaoru Kamata served as the Vice President of The Japan Association of Private Universities And Colleges.
・Shuya Nomura served as a member of the Committee for Rating Third party Committee Reports.
・Keiichi Tadaki served as a Consultant to the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
・Akihisa Tamaki served as a member of the Experts Committee for Handling of Legal Affairs by Small and Medium Enterprises, The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
・Takafumi Ochiai served as the Deputy Director-General of the Japan Association of Arbitrators.
・Yusuke Takamiya served as a member of the committee of experts relating to the operation of Tokyo emissions trading.

Educational Activities

A number of lawyers from the firm teach at law schools, universities and legal organizations. In 2014, one lawyer was newly appointed to an educational institution to help foster the next generation of legal professionals.

The firm’s lawyers have also been actively working to train future legal professionals by accepting legal apprentices for practical training and training at a large-scale firm, as well as through other programs such as externships for students.

During the practical training and the training at a large-scale firm, Satoshi Kawai, Hideki Matsui and Chisako Takaya accepted and trained 16 legal apprentices, and other lawyers, including Takuya Iizuka and Katsuyuki Shibata, accepted nine externship students from the Chuo University Graduate School of Law, the Tokyo Metropolitan University and other law schools.

In 2014, 50 lawyers taught in 24 educational institutions (listed below) throughout Japan. These institutions vary from public universities and law schools to legal organizations.

 

Tohoku Region
The Center for Cooperative Research and Development, Iwate University	Takuya Iizuka
Graduate School of Tohoku University	Takuya Iizuka
Tohoku University Law School	Satoshi Kawai, Ko Fujita and Akira Marumo
Kanto Region
Graduate Schools of Aoyama Gakuin University	Hiroko Yamamoto and Atsushi Okada
Aoyama Gakuin University Law School	Masayuki Matsuda, Yoshifumi Onodera and Shinichiro Yoshiba
Keio University	Eriko Ishii
Keio University Law School	Harumichi Uchida, Susumu Masuda, Takuya Eguchi, Koichiro Iida and Hideki Utsunomiya
Seikei University	Hideaki Umetsu
Seikei University Law School	Masahiro Murakami
Graduate Schools of Chuo University	Hiroshi Takahashi and Takane Hori
Chuo University Graduate School of Law	Shuya Nomura, Masayuki Matsuda, Toshifumi Ueda, Yukinaga Kojima, Taro Omoto, Takayuki Kihira, Kentaro Minegishi and Itaru Adachi
The University of Tokyo	Hiroshi Takahashi, Hiroki Aoyama and Shiho Ono
The University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics	Shin Kikuchi, Junichi Tobimatsu and Yuto Matsumura
The University of Tokyo School of Law	Ryosuke Aihara, Shigehiko Ishimoto, Hiroyuki Kurihara and Yusuke Kobayashi
Graduate Schools of Hitotsubashi University	Masahiro Murakami, Yoshio Iteya, Seiichi Okazaki and Yohei Koyama
Hitotsubashi University Law School	Yoshio Iteya, Minoru Sawaguchi, Hiromasa Arai and Shota Ogawa
Waseda University	Kaoru Kamata
Waseda Law School	Kaoru Kamata, Hajime Tanahashi, Yukinaga Kojima, Tetsushi Kamimura, Takeshi Okuyama, Masaaki Ibaragi and Mitsuhiro Tateishi
Chubu Region
Nagoya University Law School	Satoshi Nakamura
Kansai Region
Kyoto University Law School	Hajime Tanahashi and Gaku Ishiwata
Kinki University	Tsuyoshi Ikeda
Overseas
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland	Takayuki Kihira
Cornell University Law School	Takayuki Kihira