One among Japan’s ‘Big Four’ law firms, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto’s dispute resolution team boasts 45 partners and more than 50 other qualified attorneys. The team is experienced in handling the full range of domestic and cross-border disputes, notably active in corporate, employment and real estate disputes. The firm has a strong presence in East Asia with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Yangon and Jakarta.
Mugi Sekido and Kana Manabe are key figures in the team. Sekido is highly respected for his commercial litigation expertise. Yutaka Miyoshi is a notable IP litigator.
In one work highlight during the research period, the firm represented Japan Post in defence of claims brought under the Labour Contract Act by a large number of fixed-term employees over differences between the terms and conditions of their employment contracts and those of permanent employees. This case is being widely covered by the media because of the similarity of the plaintiffs’ arguments to the new policy of ‘equal pay for equal work’ that the Japanese government has introduced.
In another case, the firm represented Toshiba in defence of claims brought by former or current shareholders in tort alleging ‘improper’ disclosure of financial information by Toshiba in past years. The shareholders assert that they would not have purchased Toshiba’s shares had they known about alleged accounting irregularities or that the share price of Toshiba was illegally inflated by the alleged accounting irregularities.
Coincheck and YKK AP worked with the firm in the past 12 months.
