Tokyo, January 16, 2008 – LAWFUEL – Law Firm Newswire – Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office announced today that it had formed an Antitrust Practice Group, expanding the Firm’s international and domestic practice in Japan. The Tokyo Antitrust Practice Group comprises of a core group of 7 lawyers and is supported by a substantial number of specialist in related practice fields including mergers & acquisitions, taxation, dispute resolution, intellectual property and economic analysis. The Firm’s ability to approach issues on a cross-practice group basis provides clients with more comprehensive and complete legal advice.
Jeremy Pitts, Managing Partner of Baker & McKenzie in Tokyo said: “In today’s global economy, clients involved in multinational investment and divestment activities need to adopt an antitrust strategy that takes account of antitrust rules across a range of jurisdictions. The formation of this antitrust practice group in Tokyo helps us deliver to clients in Japan the tools they need to create such a strategy. The formation of the group is also timely given the likely broadening of the jurisdictional reach of the Japanese antitrust rules in the near future.“
The addition of the Tokyo Antitrust Practice Group brings the total number of specialised practices groups in the Tokyo office to eight: M&A, Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, Intellectual Property, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Major Projects including energy, chemical, mining and Infrastructure, and Antitrust.
Drawing upon the worldwide talents in the Firm’s Global Antitrust & Competition group, the Tokyo antitrust team offers clients sophisticated global insights and capabilities, rich local knowledge on matters relating to domestic and international antitrust compliance programs, cartels and merger controls in Japan and other countries, and antitrust/ competition litigation in Japan and other jurisdictions.
David Clanton, Chair of Baker & McKenzie’s Global Antitrust Practice Group, commented: “The cross-border nature of a lot of corporate work highlights the need for competition capability across a range of jurisdictions. We have one of the world’s largest and strongest antitrust and competition practices. The Tokyo Antitrust Practice Group adds to our capabilities across Europe, Latin America and North America, so that we may continue to provide clients with seamless integrated advice worldwide.”
The Tokyo Antitrust Practice Group is led by Fumio Koma, who joined the Firm in April 2007. Mr. Koma has extensive experience in advising clients on matters relating to merger control under antitrust law; handling domestic and international antitrust cases (both administrative and civil) in Japan, the EU and the U.S.; as well as representing clients in both domestic and international cartel cases.
Other key lawyers in the Tokyo antitrust practice include: Shinichiro Abe, Yoshiaki Muto and Akira Inoue. Shinichiro Abe focuses his practice on financial restructuring and has in-depth experience in advising clients on antitrust cases in Japan. Yoshiaki Muto focuses his practice on international litigation, arbitration, and corporate restructuring, and has represented clients in a number of antitrust civil cases. Akira Inoue (Ph.D, 2007), who joined the Firm on December 1, 2007, has advised numerous clients, including financial institutions, on antitrust matters. Mr. Inoue teaches antitrust law at Chuo University and Chuo Law School and is the author of the book entitled “Leniency Programs”.
Baker & McKenzie’s Global Antitrust & Competition practice consists of 260 experienced antitrust and competition lawyers and other professionals from various jurisdictions. The global group emphasizes international cartels, multi-jurisdictional merger control clearance and cross-border antitrust litigation. The global nature of the firm permits a multi-jurisdictional handling of international cartels, merger control clearances and cross-border antitrust litigation on a one stop/one shop basis, with a cohesive and an experienced team of lawyers from relevant jurisdictions of the world.
