TMI Associates

Senior Managing Partner: Katsuro Tanaka
Senior Partners: Eizo Matsuo, Tomohiro Tohyama, Yoshiyuki Inaba, Ryosuke Ito
Number of Partners: 132 Number of attorneys: 457
Number of patent/trademark attorneys: 84
Languages: Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Myanmar, Thai, Vietnamese

Firm Overview:
From its establishment thirty years ago, TMI Associates has grown from its original 11 members to become the second-largest law firm in Japan, with more than 540 attorneys and patent/trademark attorneys based in 14 offices. TMI has comprehensive transactional and dispute resolution capabilities, a distinctive regulatory focus and a renowned IP practice. In addition to the 14 offices in Japan and overseas, TMI has desks focused on Brazil, France, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Main Areas of Practice:

Corporate/M&A/Private Equity/Venture Capital:
The firm regularly handles the complex and high-stakes corporate and M&A transactions, including large-scale cross-border transactions, going-private transactions, private equity investments, venture capital investments, joint ventures, responding to activist shareholders and formulating takeover defenses. Overseas presence of the firm enables the firm to support clients in M&A deals throughout the Asian region.

Banking/Finance/Energy:
The firm provides cutting-edge solutions in areas such as asset financing for real estate transactions, and project financing for renewable energy and social infrastructure, in addition to more conventional financial services such as banking and capital markets, investment fund and asset management, derivatives and structured products, and leveraged financing.

IP/Media/Entertainment/Telecommunications & Technology:
The firm’s unique and unparalleled ability to form collaborative teams combining attorneys and patent and trademark attorneys has enabled the firm to become a leading law firm in Japan and worldwide in the practice areas surrounding IP, Media, Sports, Entertainment and Telecommunications & Technology. The firm is a pioneer in providing legal services concerning brands, trade secrets and content protection for many of the world’s best-known companies.

Dispute Resolution (Litigation/Arbitration/ Mediation):
The firm has handled hundreds of cases involving commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, tax disputes, administrative disputes, and other types of matters worldwide. Lawyers of the firm have significant experience in international arbitration cases before arbitral institutions in the role of both counsel and arbitrator.

Risk Management/Investigation:
The firm has an abundance of experience in dealing effectively with complex and sensitive matters for both domestic and international clients. The risk management practice of the firm includes advice on public relations and crisis management, corporate fraud and other investigations and the defense of white-collar criminal claims.

Antitrust/Competition:
The firm’s highly-experienced Antitrust/ Competition team provides a wide range of services for clients, from advising on M&A transactions and counseling on business and operational compliance with Japan’s antimonopoly laws, through to providing support in response to large-scale investigations.

International Trade and Investment:
The firm supports its clients in planning for and dealing with trade issues such as tariffs, export control and direct inbound investment restrictions. The firm’s expertise includes the domestic customs laws and investigation processes and other trade measures, such as anti-dumping and safeguards.

Labour/Employment:
The firm its clients with provides practical, problem-solving legal advice on employmentrelated matters. The firm’s services cover the entire spectrum of employment-related matters in Japan, including litigation, negotiation with labour unions, employment-related support for M&A deals, and investigations into harassment and other misconduct.

Life Sciences:
The firm has a leading life sciences practice that serves both established businesses and start-ups in the life sciences and medical care fields. The firm provides these clients with practical legal advice in relation to the development, production, sale, distribution, promotion and advertising of pharmaceutical products, medical devices, cosmetics and health foods.

Maritime/Shipping:
The firm provides legal advice on all types of shipping and maritime matters, including shipping finance, dry-shipping and wetshipping. The firm’s expertise is particularly strong in the areas of oil tankers, chemical tankers and LNG tankers, and the firm has experience advising shipowners, operators, trading houses, shipbuilders, P&I clubs and hull insurers.

OTHER PRACTICE AREAS:
Business Turnaround/Bankruptcy, Real Estate/ Construction, Tax Disputes and Investigations