LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – Lovells has further expanded its international IPMT practice and entered the Japanese domestic market with the recruitment of bengoshi partner Eiichiro Kubota and his seven-strong team to the firm’s Tokyo office. Kubota is currently the head and founding partner of Kubota Law & Patent office. Kubota is Lovells’ 23rd lateral hire in 2007 and the third for the IP practice in as many months.
Kubota specialises in intellectual property, with a particular focus on patent litigation and will complement the recent launch of the firm’s patent litigation practice in New York. He began his career at Nakamura & Partners: Japan’s leading intellectual property law firm. In 1994 he established Kubota Law & Patent Office which comprises seven lawyers. Kubota will be joining Lovells as a partner with his seven-lawyer team on 1 January 2008.
Commenting today Lovells’ managing partner David Harris said:
“Our Tokyo office has enjoyed strong growth and we expect that this growth will continue in the future. Japan is an important market for many of our international clients and we enjoy a very strong domestic client base there. It is often difficult to attract high quality Japanese lawyers, so hiring Kubota and his team is a real coup for us and is testament to our reputation in the market. We firmly believe that our clients will benefit from this strong combination of domestic and international talent advising on both inbound and outbound work”.
Eiichiro Kubota added:
“We are delighted to be joining Lovells in the first step towards developing a broad local Japanese practice for the firm. We look forward to integrating with what is the leading international IPMT practice in Japan and building upon this reputation through the addition of our local IP expertise”.
Burkhart Goebel, head of the Lovells global IPMT practice, said:
“Kubota has a first class reputation as an IP lawyer and as a team leader. Having the new team on board will allow us to service inbound IPMT work for international clients and provide additional services to our Japanese clients. We take great pride in having one of the most highly regarded, biggest, and best integrated IP groups in the world. Having the new team on board will complement our emerging strengths in patent litigation in the US, and already outstanding practice in Europe, making us a true global player”.
