Ushijima & Partners

Managing Partner: Shin Ushijima

Number of Partners: 26

Number of Lawyers: 64

Languages: English, Japanese

Firm Overview:

Ushijima & Partners, founded in 1985 by Shin Ushijima, is a full-service law firm representing domestic and international clients in Japan and providing overseas legal services through its international alliances, such as Multilaw, Employment Law Alliance and Lawyers Associated Worldwide.

Main Areas of Practice:

Corporate

Compliance/Corporate Governance

M&A/Hostile Takeover

Labour/Employment

Tax

Real Estate

Financial Regulations

Finance/Securitisation

Insurance

Restructuring/Insolvency

Risk Management

Antitrust

Litigation/ADR

Intellectual Property

Entertainment

Internet, Media & Technology

Environmental Law

Asia Practice

International Inheritance/International

Divorce

Natural Disasters/Infectious Diseases Corporate:

The firm provides a wide range of services, including advising clients in compliance; establishing companies and associations; managing corporate meetings; contracts and negotiations; and criminal cases involving corporate activities.

M&A/Hostile Takeover:

■ M&A: Domestic and international M&A transactions representing acquirers or target companies in widely varied industries, including banking, insurance, securities, IT, e-commerce, electric, chemical, medical, pharmaceutical, paper, trading, HR, entertainment, retail, hotel, selling and leasing of real estate, cable broadcasting, etc.

■ Hostile Takeover: Overwhelming strength in hostile takeover defence. The firm successfully represented Hokuetsu Paper Mills, Ltd in the first hostile takeover case between large listed companies in Japan, against Oji Paper Co., Ltd.

Litigation/Arbitration:

■ Representation of foreign or foreign-affiliated corporations in litigation in Japan

■ Advice through overseas law firms from its global networks to Japanese corporations in overseas disputes

■ Representation in international arbitrations before the JCAA, ICC, etc.

Finance:

■ Guidance and advice on various financing matters including structured finance, commitment line agreements, non-recourse loans, derivative transactions (e.g., swap transactions), project finance, equity finance (e.g., IPOs) and finance related corporate acquisitions

■ Assistance to financial institutions in their daily compliance, product development and other activities

Securitisation:

Real estate securitisation and liquidation matters (including real estate development projects and JREITs), etc. The firm is also involved in legislation of relevant laws, improvement of legal systems and related activities.

Real Estate:

■ Real estate transactions and leasing of real properties, large-scale development projects (including land readjustment or urban redevelopment projects), City Planning Act and Building Standards Law

■ Advice and dispute resolution concerning environmental laws (including land contamination and asbestos remediation measures) and construction-related disputes

Labour/Employment:

Comprehensive support for setting up Japan office and managing small office of foreign companies; compliance and risk management in labour and employment area (especially, overtime and overwork); redundancy and early retirement; performance management; non-compete agreements; occupational health and safety; handicapped employment.

ICT/Intellectual Property:

■ Intellectual Property: License agreements, preventive legal practices for intellectual property infringement, and intellectual property infringement litigation, enforcement of intellectual property rights

■ Entertainment Law: The firm provides advice to numerous clients in the entertainment industry (including music, film, professional sports, events, games) ■ System Development: Legal advice and dispute resolution in system development, development of games and embedded software

■ Information Management/Cyber Security: Personal Information Protection Act, Unfair Competition Prevention Act and ‘My Number’ Act

Natural Disasters/Infectious Diseases:

■ Handle disputes including design/construction liability (e.g., large-scale building damage due to large earthquakes), business transaction disputes, and labor issues

■ Advise on discontinuation/postponement of transactions, deal with employee-related issues under labour laws, and strategise and appropriately manage public relations

■ Assist clients in building, developing and monitoring appropriate systems and BCP including preventive measures

International Work:

Asia Practices: In relation to the Japanese companies’ expansion into Asia, the firm provides services in cooperation with local law firms such as legal research on licenses pertaining to foreign investment that are peculiar to local countries, due diligence on investment targets, construction of schemes for expanding business such as M&A, joint venture and distributorship agreements.