Career
Makoto Hiratsuka is senior partner of Hiratsuka & Co. Since founding the law firm in 1976, he has handled a large number of cases in the fields of maritime, shipping and insurance laws for foreign (English, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Israeli, etc) clients as well as for Japanese clients. These include, but not limited to, collisions, fires, explosions, grounding, charterparty disputes, cargo claims, disputes between insurers and reinsurers cases. On a number of occasions, he has provided expert advices on the position under Japanese law with respect to cases pending before foreign courts/arbitration tribunals.
Professional Memberships
The Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association, Private International Law Association of Japan, Japanese Maritime Law Association, International Academy of Trial Lawyers