The Legal 500

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a third tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi ‘provides an excellent service’. It recently advised Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group on the $5bn combination of its securities business with Morgan Stanley (Japan) and represented Citibank on the workout and disposition of a financing position in the ANA hotel portfolio. Dale Caldwell’s banking and finance group includes the expertise of Theodore Seltzer and Tony Grundy.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a second tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi combines ‘perfect understanding of the client’s needs, anticipation of problems or issues, commercial mindedness and very good response times’. It acted for Deutsche Bank as lead manager on the $32m Regulation S institutional offer of new shares by Pioneer Corporation, and acted as sole counsel as to Japanese law to Mizuho Securities and Deutsche Securities for the public offering of investment units in Japan by Advance Residence Investment Corporation. The dynamic combination of Fuyuo Mitomi, Andrew Winden and counsel Robyn Nadler providing Japanese, US and English law expertise respectively is a force to be reckoned with. Experienced Tony Grundy is also highly regarded.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a first tier firm,

In 2010, Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi announced or completed over $20bn of Japan-related mergers and acquisitions. It handled Japan’s first successful hostile take-over of a listed US company - Astellas’ $4bn acquisition of OSI pharmaceuticals; represented NEC Electric in its $3.9bn merger with Renesas; assisted ON Semiconductor in its $600m acquisition of Sanyo Semiconductor; and acted for Sumitomo Corporation in its $130m investment in Molycorp. The much-admired Ken Siegel leads the M&A group that excels ‘where broad legal specialities are required’, and includes Gary Smith who has ‘tremendous negotiation skills’, and Stanley Yukevich whose ‘advice is always given quickly and is spot on’. Fuyuo Mitomi also commands great respect in the market. Randy Laxer and David Litt are also recommended.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a first tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi ‘has a very good and well-organised team of dispute resolution lawyers in Tokyo’. IP litigation is an area of strength, but the firm handles many different types of disputes. It is currently defending mining giant Rio Tinto against claims that it is responsible for the actions of members of the Papua New Guinea defense force after a violent takeover of the world’s largest copper mine. Other clients include AIG, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Nikon and Panasonic. ‘Especially excellent’ Max Olson ‘always thinks about what would be the best for clients’. Craig Celniker’s ‘insight into dispute resolution and strategic approach are excellent’. Jack Londen and Peter Stern are also highly experienced in this field. Yaeko Hodaka left the firm to join Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a first tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi IP practice focuses on patent, trade mark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, and related intellectual property matters. Max Olson, who is ‘bright, thoughtful, cautious and pleasant’, specializes in patent litigation, adversarial patent license negotiations and international arbitration. Head of the patent department Robert Hollingshead is ‘basically very gentle in the way he speaks, but he can be very tough and tenacious in negotiations with third parties’. The firm recently advised on Yahoo Japan’s strategic partnership with Twitter; and advised Nikon Corporation, Nikon Precision, and Nikon Research Corporation of America in patent litigation against Anvik Corporation in the Southern District of New York. Head of the firm’s technology transactions group Stuart Beraha and Masato Hayakawa are also highly recommended.

Within Legal market overview,

The legal market in Tokyo, particularly among the international firms and joint ventures has been volatile. When their joint venture came to an end in April 2011, a team of 10 bengoshi transactional lawyers transferred their allegiance from Clifford Chance Law Office to K&L Gates. K&L Gates also welcomed a smaller finance team from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in turn welcomed a group of litigators from Paul Hastings LLP who took another hit with the departure of two corporate bengoshi partners to White & Case LLP- White & Case Law Offices (Registered Association). White & Case LLP- White & Case Law Offices (Registered Association) however suffered a blow when Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi took over its transactional tax team.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a second tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi assists clients in all aspects of the development, construction, financing, restructuring, and purchase and sale of infrastructure projects around the world. The firm acted for Mitsui & Co and Tokyo Gas Co in their $1.2bn acquisition from Gas Natural SDG of five gas-fired combined cycle power stations in Mexico and a related gas pipeline company; and advised Sumitomo Corporation in its $1.9bn acquisition of a 30% stake in a recently created iron ore unit of Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais. Head of the firm’s project finance and development group Michael Graffagna, Dale Caldwell and of counsel Christian Petersen are all highly praised by clients.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a first tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi has ‘the deepest bench of real estate attorneys among the foreign law firms in Japan. Particularly impressive is the balance between US trained counsel and Japanese bengoshi’. Theodore Seltzer ‘is unique in his creative solutions for the Japan market’, Keisuke Mochizuki and ‘excellent attorney’ Eric Piesner lead the real estate group. ‘They find innovative and non-standard solutions for complex problems’. The firm advised Citibank on the workout and disposition of the financing position in the ANA hotel portfolio; and acted for AIG Global Real Estate in connection with the sale of its Asia real estate fund management platform to Invesco. Andrew Morrison is ‘a calm and composed individual who handles transactions with reassuring confidence’.

Within International firms and joint ventures, Morrison & Foerster LLP is a second tier firm,

Morrison & Foerster Ito & Mitomi launched its tax practice with the hire of the market leading transactional tax group from White & Case LLP- White & Case Law Offices (Registered Association). The firm now has the ability to offer coordinated advice on tax matters under Japanese, US and other foreign tax laws, and the capacity to provide integrated tax and legal advice. Eric Roose, Yasuo Igarashi, Takeo Mizutani and of counsel Michael Shikuma make a formidable team, whose clients include CapitaLand and Hitachi. Indeed, the firm recently represented Hitachi with respect to the $4.3bn sale of its Global Storage Technology group to Western Digital, which involved structuring the sale of global GST group with subsidiaries in the US, Europe and Asia.