Tokyo Office

Orrick's Tokyo office opened in 1997 and is part of Orrick's strong presence in the Asia Pacific region, with additional offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. As the Orrick office that has been open the longest outside of the United States, Orrick Tokyo has paved the way for the firm's expansion throughout Asia and around the world. In 2007, Orrick celebrated its 10th Year Anniversary in Tokyo with a ceremony at the Hotel Okura. Please view our press release and our Tokyo 10th Anniversary announcement.

Today, we have a team of more than 35 partners, of counsel and associates in Tokyo representing local and global clients in a broad range of industries, including advertising, agricultural chemicals, automotive, banking and finance, biotechnology, consumer electronics, energy and utilities, food and beverage, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, real estate, retail, telecommunications and transportation.

Local and Cross-Border Practices

Orrick’s Tokyo office provides U.S., English, French, Japanese and Russian law services, with lawyers and professionals able to provide clients with counsel, documentation, translation and communications in each of these languages. As a result, Orrick is a preferred advisor to local and international companies with inbound and outbound business activities that require sophisticated cross-border legal solutions. 

Our core practices in Tokyo are:

• Capital Markets and Securities
• Emerging Companies and Venture Capital
• Employment Law and Human Resources Counseling and Disputes
• Franco-Japan Practice
• Global Finance
• Intellectual Property Disputes, Portfolio Counseling and Technology Transactions
• Korea Practice
• Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances
• Real Estate Development, Investment, Divestitures, Acquisitions and Financings
• Russian Far East Investment, Trade and Dispute Resolution
• Securitization and Structured Finance

Orrick’s Tokyo lawyers also provide clients with a unique combination of practical business experience and well-proven legal knowledge in key client industries. Our Tokyo team includes lawyers with advanced degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, environmental science and business management.

Awards and Recognitions

The record of market-leading accomplishments by Orrick’s Tokyo lawyers began in 1999 when Orrick was named "Asia-Pacific Securitization and Structured Finance Law Firm of the Year" by International Financial Law Review, in recognition of our innovative work on the Sanwa Bank housing loan securitization, a number of precedent-setting transactions involving Japanese consumer finance receivables, and several CBO transactions involving Asian bonds and other securities. Our Tokyo team continues to receive recognition for its cutting-edge work, including:

• Real Estate Deal of the Year:  Orrick Tokyo lawyers represented the largest independent real estate fund in Japan in its ¥143 billion ($1.2 billion) acquisition and financing of the Shiba Park office building, the largest single developed property acquisition completed at that time in Japan. The transaction was named a finalist for both the 2006 "Real Estate Deal of the Year" award from Asian-Counsel and the 2007 "Real Estate Deal of the Year" award from Asian Legal Business Japan Law Awards.
• European Renewables Deal of the Year: Orrick Tokyo lawyers served as counsel to the Japanese joint venture sponsor of two 201 MW wind power projects in Spain that were recognized as the "European Renewables Deal of the Year" in 2003 by Project Finance.

Precedent-Setting Transactions

For more than ten years, the lawyers in our Tokyo office have handled many of the cutting-edge and largest local and cross-border transactions of their kind. Examples of our pioneering transactions include:

• First single borrower, multi-borrower and whole business CMBS programs for multiple investment banks in Japan
• First licensed real estate servicers in Japan, including establishing the templates for servicing agreements commonly used in Japan
• First third-party acquisition of a nonperforming loan portfolio in Japan
• First highly successful multiple apartment loan CMBS transaction in Japan
• First large-scale Japanese project finance wind energy project
• First third-party NPL and REO property securitization in Japan
• First Japanese IPP project finance transaction for a Japanese trading firm
• First Japanese consumer loan ABS transaction to utilize master trust technology
• First securitization of sub-performing loans in Japan
• First cross-border structuring of the hostile takeover defenses for a Japanese listed automotive company, in the context of a strategic alliance with a French corporation, resulting in a change of relevant legislation in France
• First wind power project financings in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom (represented Japanese investors)
• Korea’s first Japanese yen-denominated securitization to be offered and sold in the Japanese market
• First CLO/CBO issued by a Korean bank and first future flow transaction in Korea
• First RMBS to receive approval from the Taiwanese regulatory authorities and to be registered for public offering under Taiwan’s securities laws
• World’s largest airline ticket receivable securitization (¥40 billion)