Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo

Firm Profile

Number of partners: 4

Number of lawyers: 16

Languages: English, Japanese, German

Firm Overview

Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo specializes in providing Japanese legal services to a broad range of multinational clients in the areas of Japanese employment law, dispute resolution, financial regulatory matters, life science regulatory matters and corporate matters. We have worked on a variety of challenging, high profile and complex mandates in recent years.

Keeping the basic philosophy represented by the word “Vanguard” in mind, we provide creative solutions, and proactive and practical advice to multinational clients to navigate complex Japanese legal issues.

Main Areas of Practice

- Employment Law

- Dispute Resolution and Investigations

- M & A

- Corporate Governance

- Corporate Finance

Employment Law:

3 partners; 12 fee earners based in Japan

Our experience includes advising:

• various multinational companies on large scale redundancies;

• on employment related matters in connection with a joint venture between a multinational investment bank and a Japanese financial institution;

• a major Japanese bank on various employment related issues and litigations including sexual harassment and reinstatement claims by former officers and employees;

• a major UK retail company on various employment issues including advising on their plans for restructuring;

• a major US financial information services firm on various employment issues including termination of poor performers, plans for restructuring and representing the firm in various employment related litigations;

• a major US manufacturing firm on its disputes with a trade union relating to the closure of its plant in Japan;

• a global technology company in court to win a dismissal case; and

• a major global financial institution on various litigations, including successful litigations relating to overtime work and various reinstatement claims by former employees.

Contact: Akiko Yamakawa

Tel: +813 6868 0410

Email:[email protected]

Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations:

4 partners; 10 fee earners based in Japan Our experience includes:

• representing a major investment fund on an epoch‐making litigation in Japan, successfully obtaining an injunction to prevent the issue of moving strike warrants for the purpose of diluting shareholding;

• conducting internal investigations and successfully representing a major multinational firm in large commercial litigations relating to a series of fraudulent transactions;

• representing a global investment bank in litigations concerning disputes over large derivatives transactions; • representing a global news agency in various litigations involving issues such as the freedom of the press, privacy, defamation and the right to be forgotten;

• representing a foreign government in various litigations concerning various rights held by the government over real estate in Japan;

• representing an international investment management firm in court to successfully recover investment management fees;

• representing a global firm in a high-profile lawsuit relating to the Fukushima nuclear accident;

• conducting internal investigations and dealing with the Japanese regulators in relation to a large-scale expense abuse matter;

• conducting internal investigations and advising on strategies for a global investment bank which was the victim of a series of fraudulent transactions;

• conducting internal investigations and advising on strategies for various multinational companies in relation to executive and employee misconduct; and

• conducting internal investigations and dealing with the financial regulators on behalf of various international financial institutions.

Contact: Kazuki Okada

Tel: +813 6868 0410

Email:[email protected]

Corporate Law:

1 partner; 12 fee earners based in Japan

Our experience includes advising:

• On mergers between listed corporations

• A Japanese listed company in relation to its acquisition of a foreign listed company

• Private equity funds with respect to investment in public and private Japanese companies

• Foreign funds to acquire shares of Japanese listed companies

• US insurance companies to sell all shares of its Japanese life insurance subsidiary

• Japanese venture companies to issue preferred shares to various investors

• On business sales between global medical devices manufacturers

• Japanese listed companies with respect to strengthen their governance and compliance system

• Other overall Corporate Law and Commercial Code issues.

Contact: Akira Nakazawa

Tel: +813 6868 0410

Email:[email protected]

Globally-Recognised Awards

ALB Japan Law Awards, presented by Asian Legal Business (ALB)

ALB Japan awarded the firm the following ALB Law Awards:

Boutique Law Firm of the Year 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020

Labour and Employment Law Firm of the Year 2022, 2021, 2019

The Legal 500 Rankings, published by Legalease Ltd.

The Legal 500 Rankings gave the firm the following rankings:

Tier 2 - Labour and Employment: Independent Local Firms

Tier 3 - Dispute Resolution: Independent Local Firms

- The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 -