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▼Bar Association Activities　▼Public Sector Activities　▼Educational Activities　
▼Pro Bono Projects

 

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 2019 are provided below.

• Hideaki Umetsu served as a co-chair of "6th Asia Pacific Regional Forum Biennial Conference: Unified Asia" organized by International Bar Association.

During 2019, a total of 47 of the firm’s lawyers served as duty attorneys in 25 cases and as court-appointed defense counsel in 40 cases, and provided free legal counsel in 50 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)

• Takuto Ichimura became the member of "Subcommittee on Electricity Resilience toward Decarbonized Society", Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• Takuto Ichimura became a member of "Working Group on Ensuring Expenses for Disposal, etc. of Photovoltaic Power Generation Facilities", Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• Minoru Sawaguchi became a member of the Study Group on the General Meeting of Stockholder Processes in the New Era, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• Masakazu Masujima became a member of Plant Sector Committee for Data Sharing Businesses in Cooperative Fields and AI System.
• Atsushi Okada became a member of Study Group on Data Utilization for Increasing the Sophistication of Trading Operations, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Three lawyers has been seconded to METI.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)​

One lawyer has been seconded to MHLW.

Ministry of Justice (MOJ)

One lawyer has been seconded to MOJ.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)

One lawyer has been seconded to MLIT.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)

• Masakazu Masujima became a member of AI Inclusion Promotion Committee, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
• Masakazu Masujima became a member of Public-Private Cooperation Task Force for "My Number" Point Utilization, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Patent Office

• Masakazu Masujima became the member of Expert Committee for Promoting International Rights of Intellectual Property, Patent office.
• Masakazu Masujima became a member of the Research Study Committee on Supporting Personnel Development and Contract Guidelines for Promotion of Open Innovation, Japan Patent Office.

Cabinet Office

• Daisuke Mosaka became the mentor of "S-Booster 2019".
• Tetsuji Odan became the mentor of "S-Booster 2019".
• Masakazu Masujima became an Associate Member of Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform (Investment and Miscellaneous Issues Working Group), Cabinet Office.

Cabinet Secretariat

• Masakazu Masujima became a member of Conference for Digital Market Competition Working Group, Cabinet Secretariat.

Other public organizations

• Atsushi Okada became the lecturer for Mandatory Training at the Japan Patent Attorneys Association (Amended Unfair Competition Prevention Act and Data-Related Business)
• Yutaka Miyoshi becomes a lecturer for Mandatory Training at the Japan Patent Attorneys Association (Amended Unfair Competition Prevention Act and Data-Related Business)
• Nobuhiko Shimose became the Director of JA Bank Support Association.
• Atsushi Okada became the member of Study Group on Global Data & AI utilization System and Management, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
• Atsushi Okada became the Technical Committee Member, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
• Masayuki Ishibashi became a Secretariat, Capital Markets Subcommittee Meeting of Fintech Association of Japan.
• Yusuke Murakami became a member of Subcommittee on Contract & Legal, Engineering Advancement Association of Japan (ENAA).
• Hiroko Yotsumoto became a member of Sendai City Committee for the Promotion of the Privatization of Gas Business.
• Atsushi Okada became an Advisory Member of Connected Industries Open Framework Promotion Committee, Industrial Value Chain Initiative.
• Atsushi Okada became an Advisor to Japan DPO Association.
• Hiroyuki Tanaka became an Advisor to Japan DPO Association.
   

Educational Activities

A number of lawyers from the firm are currently teaching at law schools, universities and legal organizations. In 2019, six lawyers were newly appointed to educational institutions to help foster the next generation of legal professionals.

The firm has also been offering the opportunity to experience the work of a lawyer and actively strives 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.

In 2019, 36 lawyers taught in 18 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
Hokuriku Region
Kanazawa University Law School	Hiromasa Arai
Kanto Region
Graduate Schools of Aoyama Gakuin University	Hiroko Yamamoto and Atsushi Okada
Keio University Law School	Susumu Masuda, Hideki Utsunomiya, Taro Omoto, Yuko Kanamaru and Yuriko Yamazaki
Chuo University Graduate School of Law	Shuya Nomura
The University of Tokyo	Daisuke Asai, Atsushi Okada and Fuyuki Kojima
The University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics	Minoru Sawaguchi, Masanori Sato and Gaku Ishiwata
The University of Tokyo School of Law	Shigehiko Ishimoto, Takahiro Iijima, Naoki Shiraiwa, Hiroyuki Tachiiri, Hirotada Kobayashi and Ryotaro Tanaka
Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University	Yoshio Iteya, Seiichi Okazaki, Yusuke Ishii, Hiromasa Arai and Yusuke Ueda
Waseda University	Takashi Uchida
Waseda Law School	Hajime Tanahashi, Takeshi Okuyama, Tetsushi Kamimura and Mitsuhiro Tateishi
Chubu Region
Nagoya University Law School	Toshimitsu Nemoto and Yoshihiro Kojima
Kansai Region
Kyoto University Law School	Shuhei Uchida
Kyoto University of Art and Design	Takao Kitano
Overseas
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland	Takayuki Kihira
Cornell Law School	Takayuki Kihira

Pro Bono Projects

The firm actively participates in pro bono projects, including legal education projects and refugee assistance activities, mainly through team-based endeavors undertaken by our younger lawyers.

Further, lawyers of the firm participate in various activities that encourage respect for diversity among individuals. As an example, one of our lawyers is a director of Lawyers for LGBT and Allies Network (LLAN).

• MHM endorses ACCJ’s support for marriage equality in Japan.
• Foreign members of the firm take part in the creation of foreign-language versions of "Suspect's Notes," released by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
• Firm sponsors the "JAR Charity Run & Walk - DAN DAN RUN 2019".
• Yurika Inoue, Yutaro Hori, Hiroki Yagi and Hiromasa Yamauchi participate in a program through which they provide law-related education to senior high school students at a children’s home.
• Yasuzo Takeno became the director of Lawyers for LGBT and Allies Network.