Masafumi Masuda

Masafumi Masuda is a TMT/Fintech/IP partner in Tokyo office. As the founder of IT Practice Group of Mori Hamada, he leads emerging practices such as AI and the Metaverse. After serving as a deputy director at the Financial Services Agency of Japan (2018-2020), he has also advised on financial regulations related to blockchain/Web3. He has been recognized as an opinion leader of such cutting-edge technology fields. Masafumi began his career as an IP lawyer in 2008, focusing on digital content-related matters, and worked for the Media Content Division of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (2009-2010) as the first lawyer secondee of the division. The Nikkei recognised him as one of the leading practitioners in their most recent IP lawyer survey.

Background

The University of Tokyo (B. Eng., 2004); Chuo Law School (J.D., 2007); assigned to Media and Content Industry Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a fixed-term government employee (in charge of systems) (2009-2010); Stanford Law School (LL.M., 2016); Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Chicago (2016-2017); Singapore Office, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (2017-2018); assigned to the Financial Markets Division of the Policy and Markets Bureau, Financial Services Agency as a fixed-term government employee (Special Officer) (2018-2020); Specially appointed professor at the Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University (part time position) (2023-)

admitted in Japan, 2008; New York, 2017