Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo > Tokyo, Japan > Firm Profile

Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo Offices

Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo
Shin-Tokyo Building 2F-246
3-3-1 Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-0005
Japan
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Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo > The Legal 500 Rankings

Japan > Labour and employment: Independent local firms Tier 2

Practitioners at Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo are experienced in labour and employment law matters. and display ‘a good understanding of the financial landscape in Japan’. More broadly, the group is also noted for being ‘particularly focused on labour law in general’, advising on the full scope of employment work and ‘strips away the legalese to provide workable commercial solutions’. Practice head Akiko Yamakawa ‘demonstrates skilled litigation assistance based on many years of experience in this field’ and Kazuki Okada has represented unions and employees in disputes. Masahiko Kinoshita is the key name to note at associate level.

Practice head(s):

Akiko Yamakawa

Other key lawyers:

Kazuki Okada; Masahiko Kinoshita; Yusuke Suzuki

Testimonials

‘The firm is particularly focused on labour law in general. They form a small team for each matter, which allows them to quickly respond to clients’ needs and requests. Additionally, partners at the firm generally have a strong command of English.’

‘Akiko Yamakawa clearly and concisely conveys her advice and opinions. She often takes into account the company’s circumstances and needs and provides realistic proposals. On top of that, her English proficiency is outstanding. She demonstrates skilled litigation assistance based on many years of experience in this field.’

‘The team has a good understanding of the financial landscape in Japan and is able to strip away the legalese and provide workable commercial solutions. Ability to advise in English is also a major plus.’

‘Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo strategically builds a very strong professional team and are able to give us available options with good reasoning. They assign the lawyers who are the best to support clients in an appropriate way.’

‘We have been working with Kazuki Okada, Akiko Yamakawa, and Yusuke Suzuki who are all great professionals. It is easy for a lawyer to say it’s not possible from a legal standpoint if it’s not in line with the laws, etc., trying to mitigate their firm’s risks, but they are totally different. They always come up with things that may or may not be possible, stating pros and cons and potential risks. This allows a client to consider and choose the best option from their perspective.’

Japan > Dispute resolution: Independent local firms Tier 3

The dispute resolution team at Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo offers clients assistance in JCAA arbitrations, product liability cases, defamation cases, as well as investigations. The practice is led by Kazuki Okada, who is experienced in domestic litigation and disputes between international companies. Other key names within the practice include Akira Nakazawa and Akiko Yamakawa who often handle life science regulatory disputes.

Practice head(s):

Kazuki Okada

Other key lawyers:

Akira Nakazawa; Akiko Yamakawa

Testimonials

‘Our go-to firm for human resource matters, investigations and dispute related matters.’

‘They are high-quality lawyers.’

‘Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo have strategically built a very strong professional team.’

‘Akiko Yamakawa is a standout figure.’

‘Akikko Yamakawa and Kazuki Okada are excellent. They quickly understand what the client really needs.’

Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo > Firm Profile

The firm: Vanguard Lawyers Tokyo specializes in providing Japanese legal services to a broad range of multinational clients in the areas of Japanese labour and employment law, dispute resolution and investigations, and corporate matters. Our experience in recent years includes working on a variety of challenging, high profile and complex mandates. We provide creative solutions, and proactive and practical advice to multinational clients to navigate complex Japanese legal issues.

Areas of practice
Labour and employment: Our labour and employment team has deep and extensive knowledge in the areas of labour and employment law that are unique in Japan and can provide you with practical and strategic advice on how to deal with issues that arise “only in Japan”.

A full service practice: Our practice focuses primarily on providing Japanese labour and employment law advice to global companies with operations in Japan. We regularly deal with in-house counsel and HR professionals based in various jurisdictions, including the US, the UK, continental Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. We advise our global clients on all aspects of employment related issues. We understand the needs of global clients and focus on providing proactive advice and creative ideas, rather than just pointing out the risks under Japanese law.

Key areas of work

  • Representing clients in Japanese courts in relation to various employment disputes
  • Providing advice in relation to the management of poor performers
  • Providing advice on overtime issues
  • Internal investigations and advice relating to workplace harassment such as power harassment and sexual harassment
  • Providing advice on redundancies
  • Providing advice on how to deal with union issues and representing clients in collective bargaining with unions.

Dispute resolution and investigations: We have represented clients in Japanese courts on a wide variety of complex commercial litigation, many of which involved cutting-edge legal issues. Our practice focuses on providing Japanese litigation and investigation services to global companies. We advise our global clients on all aspects of Japanese dispute resolution.

Litigation in Japanese courts and international arbitration: We have represented global clients in a wide variety of litigation in Japan, such as representing a financial institution in various disputes involving highly complex financial instruments, representing a global media firm in various lawsuits involving complex Japanese legal issues such as the right to privacy, defamation and the right to be forgotten, and representing global firms in various lawsuits seeking to recover damages resulting from fraudulent activities. We also have represented a broad range of clients in various employment lawsuits concerning various matters such as redundancies, termination for poor performance, overtime claims, harassment claims, employee misconduct issues, leaking of confidential information, etc. Furthermore, we represent clients in international arbitration, and Akiko Yamakawa serves as an arbitrator for JCAA arbitrations conducted in English.

Investigations: We regularly assist clients with internal and regulatory investigations involving a wide variety of issues such as employee misconduct, fraud, and regulatory breaches, including regulations concerning financial institutions and life science businesses. We also have extensive experience in dealing with investigations with a cross-border element, and we are fully aware of the potential pitfalls and how to minimize risks in such investigations, given the lack of the concept of privilege in Japan and other aspects unique to Japan.

Corporate: Our corporate team acts on behalf of international clients in various industries and advises on a wide range of corporate issues including corporate governance, M&A and corporate finance. Based on the team’s experiences of working at the Tokyo offices of leading global law firms, we are able to provide practical and strategic advice to resolve various issues from the perspectives of both Japanese and international mindsets.

Main Contacts

Department Name Email Telephone
Labour and Employment / Dispute Resolution and Investigations Akiko Yamakawa
Labour and Employment / Dispute Resolution and Investigations Kazuki Okada
Corporate / Dispute Resolution and Investigations Akira Nakazawa
Labour and Employment / Dispute Resolution and Investigations Masahiko Kinoshita

Lawyer Profiles

Photo Name Position Profile
Masahiko Kinoshita photo Mr Masahiko Kinoshita Partner View Profile
Akira Nakazawa photo Mr Akira Nakazawa Partner View Profile
Kazuki Okada photo Mr Kazuki Okada Partner View Profile
Akiko Yamakawa photo Ms Akiko Yamakawa Partner View Profile

Staff Figures

Number of lawyers : 15

Languages

Japanese
English
German

Notable Cases


Labour and Employment

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.

Dispute Resolution and Investigations

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 litigation 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.

Corporate

Our experience includes advising:

  • On merger 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.

 

International Capabilities


Globally-Recognised Awards

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

The firm was awarded in several categories by the ALB Japan Law Awards as below.

【Boutique Law Firm of the Year 2022, 2021, 2020】

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

Chambers Rankings, published by Chambers and Partners

The firm and our attorneys received the following numerous top rankings in several areas of practice by the Chambers Rankings.

Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022, 2021

Ranked Departments

【Employment in Japan】：Band 1

【Dispute Resolution : Domestic in Japan】：Band 2

Ranked Lawyers

【Employment : Bengoshi in Japan】Akiko Yamakawa: Band 1

【Dispute Resolution: Domestic in Japan】Kazuki Okada: Band 1

【Crisis Management: Domestic in Japan】Kazuki Okada: Spotlight Table

【Banking & Finance: Domestic in Japan】Naoki Kinami: Senior Statespeople

Chambers Global 2022, 2021

Ranked Departments

【Dispute Resolution: Domestic】Band 2

Ranked Lawyers

【Dispute Resolution: Domestic】Kazuki Okada: Band 1

【Banking & Finance: Domestic】Naoki Kinami: Senior Statespeople