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 2016 are provided below.

• Mugi Sekido became the Vice Chair of the Civil Litigation Committee, Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

• Katsuyuki Shibata became the Vice President of Daini Tokyo Bar Association.

During 2016, a total of 26 of the firm’s lawyers served as duty attorneys in 11 cases and as court-appointed defense counsel in 24 cases, and provided free legal counsel in 16 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)

• Hiroko Yotsumoto became the member of Basic Policy Subcommittee on Electricity, Electricity and Gas Industry Committee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

• Yutaka Miyoshi became the member of Study Group on an Intellectual Property System Bearing in Mind Industry 4.0, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In addition, a report was released by the study group.

• Hideaki Umetsu became the member of the Task Force for Overseas Expansion Strategy under the Long-term Global Warming Countermeasures Platform, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.

• Masakazu Masujima became the member of the "FinTech Study Group," Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He also made a presentation on the subject of "FinTech - its Vision and Measures to Be Taken for Realization."

• Minoru Sawaguchi became the member of CGS Study Group (Corporate Governance System Study Group), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

• Takuto Ichimura became the member of the Examination Committee on the Energy Resource Aggregation Business, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

• Masakazu Masujima became the member of the "Blockchain Study Group," Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In addition, a report was released by the study group.

• Yutaka Miyoshi became the member of Study Group on Cross-sectional Systems for Industry 4.0, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In addition, a report was released by the study group.

One lawyer has been seconded to METI.

Four of the firm's lawyers (namely, Chisako Takaya, Shiho Ono, Rina Shimada and Koji Kameda) conducted research on structures and court decisions in France, Germany and the United Kingdom regarding equal pay for equal work, and submitted a report summarizing the results of the research titled "Research on Employment Practices and Wage Structures in European Countries" for a research project commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

■ Ministry of Finance

The firm's lawyers and licensed tax accountants (namely, Atsushi Oishi, Makoto Sakai, Akihiro Yamada, Hiroshi Oyama, Yu Takahashi, Takahiro Iijima and Yuki Sameshima) conducted research on inheritance tax and other taxation system on foundations in Germany (family foundations) and trusts in the United Kingdom (discretionary trusts) and submitted a report summarizing the results of their research and their suggestions for Japanese law for "Research on Countermeasures Against Inheritance Tax Avoidance in Foreign Countries" conducted as a research project commissioned by the Ministry of Finance.

■ Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)

・Hiromasa Arai became the counselor to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

One lawyer has been seconded to MHLW.

■ Financial Services Agency (FSA)

• Shuya Nomura became the member of the Council of Experts Concerning Financial Monitoring,
  Financial Services Agency.

Three lawyer has been seconded to FSA.

■ Agency for Cultural Affairs

・ Tetsushi Kamimura became the member of the Committee on "Investigation Report Regarding Policies for Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights," Agency for Cultural Affairs.

■ Other public organizations

• Koichiro Iida became the member of Dispute Resolution Committee, The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, Independent Administrative Agency.

• Kaoru Kamata became the advisor in Japan Registration Acts Study Group.

• Masanori Sato became the member of Study Group on Providing Welfare Facilities Using Private Investment Funds (organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government).

• Mugi Sekido became Deputy Secretary General of Japan Association of Arbitrators.

• Masakazu Masujima became the member  of the Examination Committee on Improvement of Preparation for Disasters by Insurance and Mutual Aid, Cabinet Office .

• Takane Hori became the observer in the Subcommittee on Legal Affairs and Risks of "The Japan Bank Consortium to Central Provide Domestic and Cross-border Payment".

• Takafumi Okuda became the member of Committee for Recommending Summary Court Judges.

• Masakazu Masujima became the member of Advisory Board for Venture Challenge 2020, Cabinet Secretariat.

• Masakazu Masujima became the member of Study Group on Open API, Japanese Bankers Association.

• Takuto Ichimura became the member of the Examination Committee on the Rules for Utilizing Cross-regional Interconnecting Lines, Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators.

• Atsushi Oishi became the invited researcher at Global Family Business Research Institute, Waseda University.

• Masakazu Masujima became the member of the Review Committee for the Sharing Economy, Cabinet Secretariat.

• Takashi Uchida became the Chairperson and Representative Director of General Incorporated Foundation of Civil Legal Affairs.

• Masakazu Masujima became the Specialist Member of Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA).

• Akiko Sueoka became the member of the Committee for the Promotion of Commercialization through Industry-University Joint Research, Tohoku University.

• Shuya Nomura became the member of the Contract Supervision Committee, Japan Atomic Energy
  Agency.

• Hideki Matsui became the auditor of The Foundation for Research in Civil Dispute Resolution.

• Satoshi Kawai became a Board Member of the Japan Association of Arbitrators.

• Yoshifumi Onodera became the member of the Intellectual Property Laws Advisory Group for "Legal and Judicial Development Assistance Project" in Myanmar, Japan International Cooperation Agency.

• Katsumasa Suzuki became the vice-chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Subcommittee in the Security Law Committee of International Bar Association.

• Hideaki Umetsu became the Bar Association Liaison Officer of Asia Pacific Regional Forum of International Bar Association.

• The Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, at which Hideaki Umetsu serves as a member, released a Guidebook for Overseas Risk Management for Small & Medium Enterprises.

Educational Activities

A number of lawyers from the firm teach at law schools, universities and legal organizations. In 2016, 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, Chisako Takaya, Tetsushi Kamimura accepted and trained 5 legal apprentices, and other lawyers, including Takuya Iizuka and Masaru Arai accepted 9 externship students from the Chuo University Graduate School of Law, the Tokyo Metropolitan University and other law schools.

In 2016, 41 lawyers taught in 23 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	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
Keio University Law School	Harumichi Uchida, Susumu Masuda, Takuya Eguchi, Koichiro Iida, Hideki Utsunomiya, and Taro Omoto
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 and Minoru Sawaguchi
The University of Tokyo School of Law	Shigehiko Ishimoto, Takahiro Iijima and Ryuta Iida
Hitotsubashi University	Masahiro Murakami
Graduate Schools of Hitotsubashi University	Yoshio Iteya, Seiichi Okazaki and Yohei Koyama
Hitotsubashi University Law School	Yoshio Iteya, Minoru Sawaguchi, Hiromasa Arai, Shota Ogawa and Yusuke Ishii
Waseda University	Kaoru Kamata and Takashi Uchida
Waseda Law School	Kaoru Kamata, Hajime Tanahashi, Takeshi Okuyama, Tetsushi Kamimura and Mitsuhiro Tateishi
Chubu Region
Kanazawa Institute of Technology Graduate School	Tsuyoshi Ikeda
Nagoya University Law School	Satoshi Nakamura, Toshimitsu Nemoto, Yoshihiro Kojima and Kentaro Minegishi
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