-Yabuki Law Office-

Explained below is the firm's current areas of practice.
Approximately ninety percent of the firm's clients are corporations or other types of business entities, while the remaining ten percents are individuals.

Among the firm's corporate clients, about thirty percent of them are non-Japanese corporations. The firm provides non-Japanese corporations doing business in Japan with comprehensive range of legal advice on their activities in Japan. We also support non-Japanese corporations located in a foreign country in such cases as their having legal disputes with Japanese corporations.

The firm also provides international legal services to Japanese corporations in cases, for example, where in Japan they start-up a joint venture or face a business conflict with a non-Japanese corporation, or where outside Japan they do business or have a dispute or conflict.

Details of our legal services are as described in each of the followings.

The firm has advised to clients, as one of the reputable antitrust firms in Japan, on various domestic and international competition/antitrust cases, including large cartel, bid-rigging, IT-related, private monopolization, merger notification cases inside and outside Japan such as the investigation and hearing procedure of the Japan Fair Trade Commission and criminal procedures at court.
Kimitoshi Yabuki is currently professor of law in charge of antitrust and competition laws at the Hitotsubashi University, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy after teaching at the Tokyo University, School of Law as lecturer. He used to be the examiner on the antirust subject of the National Bar Examination. He is also secretary general of the Japan Competition Law Forum and secretary general of the Special Task Force on Amendment of the Antimonopoly Act of the Japan Federation of Bar Association. He has lectured and wrote books in the field.

(1) Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Mergers, Corporate Divisions
Before Kimitoshi Yabuki joined the firm, he had been involved in various large-scale acquisitions of corporations including insurance companies, nonbank financial institutions and information business companies. The firm has dealt with merger and acquisition cases including those require legal due diligence. We also provide our continuous legal advice on the operation of the Japanese companies acquired by our clients following the closings of the acquisitions.
In addition, we have advised on the formation of international joint venture in such areas as insurance, transportation, medical care, machine manufacturing, software, foods and internet business. We have also supported our clients in implementing their corporate restructuring such as corporate mergers, divisions, etc. and advised on various legal issues that arise following such restructuring.
We have dealt with many security investments projects that utilize the legal structure of a U.S. partnership, and collaborated with a U.S. law firm in providing legal advice on the relevant tax issues.

(2) Distribution
The firm has dealt with distributorship agreements for our non-Japanese clients aiming to enter into the Japanese market in such areas as software and foods, as well as overseas sales projects for Japanese corporate clients that produce or distribute music products, electronic devices, software, drugs and medicines, chemical products, machines, etc.

(3) Licensing
We have a wide range of experiences of license agreements in the areas of patent, trade mark, software, music product, movie, etc. These licenses include not only international ones but also those entered into between domestic corporations.

(4) Compliance
Compliance has become essential part of sound management of corporations. Particularly, U.S. corporations give special considerations to compliance policies. The firm has provided advisory service on various activities to promote compliance to the laws and regulations of Japan. The firm's attorneys give lectures on compliance issues for our clients. The compliance issues we have analyzed and advised so far extend to a wide range of issues that include restructuring of corporate organization, laws and regulations that specifically apply to our clients' businesses, anti-trust law, sexual harassment or other labor issues, money laundering regulations, etc.

(5) Outside Board Member and Auditors
The firm's attorneys assume the positions of an outside director and statutory auditors, and carry out auditing of the companies' activities. Kimitoshi Yabuki is currently a statutory auditor of Ricoh Co., Ltd.. Yoshiro Kusano is an independent Director of Tama Home Co., Ltd..

(6) Establishment of Companies or Branches
We assist in establishing branch offices or subsidiary companies that serve as the principal place of business in Japan for our non-Japanese clients. Our services include producing articles of incorporation and minutes of various corporate meetings, application for corporate registration and filing under the Foreign Exchange Control Law.

(7) Others
Kimitoshi Yabuki gave lectures on the "U.S. Corporation Law" at seminars organized three times a year by one of the largest international accounting firms. He has also acted as an official inspector required under the Japanese Commercial Code on several corporate cases at the request of the Commercial Department of the Tokyo District Court.

The firm has a wide range of experience in real estate acquisition, creation of security interests, real estate-related loan, lease, etc., both in Japan and overseas. Recently, we have been engaged in many securitization cases of large-scale real estate.

The firm's attorneys has provided comprehensive advisory services to one of the largest international nonbanking companies in connection with their business operations in Japan. We advise not only on the areas of laws that directly link to its financing business such as Money Lending Business Law, Installment Sale Law, Law on Specific Commercial Transactions, Law on Servicer, Investment Deposit and Interest Rate Law, Consumer Contract Law, Law Protecting Private Data, etc. but also on other areas including electric commerce and money laundering.

We provide our legal advice on copyright issues to our clients including music company, film distributing company, digital content creation company, publisher as well as individual artists. Our service in this area covers drafting and reviewing various contracts for domestic or international projects, prevention of or actions against copyright infringement, etc.
Kimitoshi Yabuki has actively given lectures or wrote articles in this area of laws.

One of our clients is an internet provider. We regularly provide that client with our legal services covering drafting of various contracts and conventions, advice on applicable laws and regulations, resolution of disputes with its customers, establishment of internet mall, etc.
Kimitoshi Yabuki has actively given lectures or wrote articles in this area.

The firm regularly assists our clients in producing work rules and advises on labor-related laws (especially, Labor Standards Law, Equal Employment Opportunity Promotion Law and other laws regulating individual labor relations).
Kimitoshi Yabuki has lengthy experience in this area.

Kimitoshi Yabuki has acted as administrator of bankrupted companies or persons. The firm represents our clients when filing for the application of the bankruptcy procedures.

The firm advises our non-Japanese clients when they or their employees apply for Japanese visas.

The firm has been retained as a regular counsel for several incorporated schools. We provide them with our legal services covering advice on special laws and regulations applicable to schools such as Law on Private School.
Kimitoshi Yabuki has long-time and in-depth experiences in this area of laws. He assumes the positions of directors of several incorporated schools.

The firm has for long provided advisory services to Kamakura Buddhism temples in regard to Religious Corporation Law, Law on Cemetery, Burial, Etc. as well as other areas of relevant laws and regulations.
Kimitoshi Yabuki has long-time and in-depth experiences in this area of laws. He used to be a lecturer of Buddhism University, and has wrote many articles in this area.

The firm has been engaged in litigation claiming for directors' liability, litigation claiming for subdivision of land, commercial dispute litigation, tax litigation, divorce litigation, etc. which were filed in foreign jurisdictions.

The firm has been engaged in many litigation cases in which we represent our clients before courts. These cases include litigation claiming for advertiser's liability (on behalf of the advertiser), litigation to suspend the holding of shareholders' meeting and consumer litigation (both on behalf of the company), litigation to acknowledge the invalidity of dismissal of employees (on behalf of the company), litigation on defective constructions (on behalf of the owner), litigation to demand for the payment of a contract price, litigation to demand for the repayment of members' deposit of golf club (on behalf of members), litigation claiming for a security house's liability (on behalf of consumers), litigation to demand for the disclosure of customer's information (on behalf of the internet provider), litigation to demand for the return of legally-secured portion of succession, litigation to demand for the division of estate of inheritance, etc.
Yoshiro Kusano was judge for thirty-five years, and receives high reputation in the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) field.

One of the firm's traditions is that the attorneys are very active in conducting public service activities of the bar association. The attorneys of the firm assumed or currently assume the positions of directors, managers, members, etc. of committees of various kinds set up at JFBA, the Kanto Federation of Bar Associations, and the Tokyo Bar Association, etc.
Kimitoshi Yabuki has participated actively in several projects of international cooperation assistance for legal and judicial development as the deputy chairman of the International Relations Committee of JFBA as well as the director of the Office of International Affairs of JFBA, and has also been engaged in the legal assistance projects for Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency as a member of the Steering Committee as well as a counsel of the secretariat. Tetsuhiko Yagi is a member of the office of International Affaires of JFBA.

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