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 2015 are provided below.

• Shuya Nomura became the Special Appointed Member of the Judicial System Research
  Committee (regarding examination of guidelines for outside directors), Japan Federation of Bar
  Associations.

• Ayako Ikeda became the Vice President of Daini Tokyo Bar Association and Executive Director of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

During 2015, a total of 17 of the firm’s lawyers served as duty attorneys in 7 cases and as court-appointed defense counsel in 15 cases, and provided free legal counsel in 10 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)

• Minoru Sawaguchi became the member of the Study Group on Promoting the Conversion of General Meeting of Stockholders processes to electronic form, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

• Takeshi Mukawa and Shuya Nomura become members of study group on credit trading based on JCM (Joint Crediting Mechanism), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

One lawyer has been seconded to METI.

■ Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)

• Shuya Nomura became the advisor to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Task Force for
  Ensuring Medical Safety at University Hospitals.

One lawyer has been seconded to MHLW.

■ Ministry of Justice (MOJ)

• Kazuhiro Kanamaru became the member of the Examination Committee for the Japanese Bar Exam and the Japanese Preliminary Bar Exam, Ministry of Justice.

One lawyer has been seconded to MOJ.

■ Financial Services Agency (FSA)
One lawyer has been seconded to FSA.

■ Other public organizations

• Hideki Matsui became the member of Regulatory Assistance Council, Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
• Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) expressed opinions on the "Working Group on Approach to Systems Related to Financial Groups." Toru Ishiguro summarized the opinions at the International Financial Markets Committee as the Vice Chairman of Japan Association of Corporate Executives.

• Masanori Sato became the Board Member of Japan Association of the Law of Finance.

• Satoshi Ikemura became a member of the Working Team for Developing Systems that Appropriately Meet the Needs of a New Era, Legislative and Basic Issues Subcommittee of the Subdivision on Copyright, Council for Cultural Affairs.

• Takane Hori became the Director of FinTech Association Japan.

• Hideki Matsui became the corporate auditor of Japan Human Resources Co., Ltd.

• Masakazu Masujima became the Adviser to Japan Venture Capital Association.

• Hideki Matsui, Koki Kanemura, Atsuo Kusahara, and Mizuho Yoshida take part in the publication of "Guidelines for Handling Derivative Suits - From the Viewpoint of Audit & Supervisory Board Members' Practice" released by the Study Group on Derivative Suit.

• Kaoru Matsuzawa became a member of the Research ethics committee of School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo.

• Hiroshi Takahashi becomes chairman of the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice.

• Satoshi Nakamura became the member of the Investment Project Promotion Committee,Tohoku University.

Educational Activities

A number of lawyers from the firm teach at law schools, universities and legal organizations. In 2015, seven lawyers were 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, Katsuyuki Shibata and Chisako Takaya accepted and trained 7 legal apprentices, and other lawyers, including Takuya Iizuka and Katsuyuki Shibata, accepted 11 externship students from the Chuo University Graduate School of Law, the Tokyo Metropolitan University and other law schools.

In 2015, 23 lawyers taught in 42 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
Keio University Law School	Harumichi Uchida, Susumu Masuda, Takuya Eguchi, Koichiro Iida and Hideki Utsunomiya
Seikei University Law School	Masahiro Murakami
Graduate Schools of Chuo University	Hiroshi Takahashi
Chuo University Graduate School of Law	Shuya Nomura, Masayuki Matsuda, Toshifumi Ueda, Taro Omoto, Takayuki Kihira and Kentaro Minegishi
The University of Tokyo	Takashi Uchida, Hiroshi Takahashi and Yusuke Murakami
The University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics	Yuto Matsumura
The University of Tokyo School of Law	Shigehiko Ishimoto, Hiroki Habuka, Takahiro Iijima and Ryuta Iida
Hitotsubashi University	Masahiro Murakami
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, Takashi Uchida
Waseda Law School	Kaoru Kamata, Hajime Tanahashi, Takeshi Okuyama, Tetsushi Kamimura, 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