Shinsuke Yakura Partner

Tokyo

Shinsuke Yakura is the Office Leader of Orrick’s Tokyo office and head of Orrick Tokyo’s Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, and Intellectual Property Group.  He has broad experience in handling cross-border litigation, arbitration, intellectual property and compliance matters.

His practice focuses on intellectual property, antitrust, product liability, medical and pharmaceutical, and other commercial disputes for both domestic and foreign companies. He actively engages in cross-border litigation and arbitration, and draws on his extensive knowledge and experience from various countries.

In regards to intellectual property, Shinsuke has represented numerous companies in patent infringement litigation involving a wide range of technologies related to electric devices and industrial machinery. He has also handled other IP-related issues such as trademark, copyright and right to publicity. He is a qualified patent attorney (Benrishi) in Japan.

Recently, he has been involved in business and legal issues related to artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and big data; he also acts as the Asia representative of Orrick’s Global AI Working Group.

Consistently providing strategic advice from a global perspective, he is also actively involved in bribery regulations including FCPA and UKBA, antitrust and competition law, cartel, fraud and compliance investigations.

He also advises in mergers and acquisitions, licensing and other transactional matters.

Minako Wakabayashi Partner

Tokyo

Minako Wakabayashi, partner in Orrick’s Tokyo office, is a member of the Energy and Infrastructure Group. She plays a vital role in the rise of Japan’s renewable energy market, being involved in the development of onshore/offshore wind and solar projects, lobbying for policy proposals and PPA (including corporate PPA).

Minako has significant experience advising international and domestic sponsors and developers on complex and innovative projects. She was called upon by the Japanese government in structuring the renewable Feed-in-Tariff scheme in Japan and prepared the government’s model contracts for specific contracts (power purchase contract/interconnection contract), which are a key component of the Feed-in-Tariff scheme in Japan. Recently, she has also been handling numerous corporate PPA projects.

She was appointed as Auditor of the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) in May 2022.

Minako practiced at Orrick’s New York office in 2004-2005. She also worked as a public prosecutor in Japan for four years and served as a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Supervising Committee for Public Bidding (Tokyo-to Nyusatsu Kanshi Iinkai) for eight years. She is serving as Audit of Veritas In Silico Inc since March 2022.

Hiroki Sugita Partner

Tokyo

Hiroki Sugita is a partner in Orrick’s Tokyo Office and a member of the M&A and Private Equity Group. He works on a wide range of cross-border transactions including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, emerging companies and venture capital transactions, and private equity investment especially in Japan, the United States, Europe and Asia.

He also has extensive experience in fund formation, real estate and various types of finance transactions.

Hiroki has a deep understanding of clients’ needs from his secondment experience with a U.S. investment bank in 2005 and a Japanese major trading house from 2012 to 2014.

Prior to joining Orrick, Hiroki worked at O’Melveny’s Tokyo office as a counsel where he mainly worked on cross border M&A.

Yumiko Ohta Partner

Tokyo

Yumiko Ohta, partner in the Orrick's Tokyo office, is a member of the Employment Law Group. Yumiko focuses mainly on employment law advice as well as various corporate transactions including compliance, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, litigation and general corporate transactions.

Yumiko also has knowledge related to international trade such as customs rules and export controls.

Before joining Orrick, Yumiko was an associate at Tanabe & Partners and advised clients in corporate transactions and employment law as well as represented clients in civil and family cases. She has experience serving as a statutory auditor for Japanese corporations. Prior to practicing law, she worked at Mitsubishi Corporation for seven years. While there, she was involved in LNG projects and other global business.

Yuko Inui Partner

Tokyo

Yuko is a member of the Energy and Infrastructure Group. Her practice mainly focuses on the development, project financing and secondary transaction of renewable energy projects, including offshore and onshore wind, and solar projects, as well as related permits and real estate work. She also has experience with environmental and fintech matters.

As of February 2022, Yuko has conducted legal due diligence for clients on 41 solar projects (total 1370MW) and 21 wind projects (total 1399MW) in Japan, including Japan’s largest solar project (235MW) and Japan’s largest wind project (121.6MW).

Yuko has been appointed as special member of the Environmental Preservation Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations every year since 2006.

In 2022, Yuko was recognized as a Rising Star for Japan in Projects and Energy: International Firms and Joint Ventures category by Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

John Inge Counsel

Tokyo; Washington, D.C. Office

John Inge is counsel in the Intellectual Property Group and resident in the Tokyo office. He has more than 30 years of patent and other intellectual property law experience divided between Japan and the United States.

John has experience handling matters involving a wide range of technologies, including semiconductor devices, consumer electronics, communications systems, computers and associated equipment, radar, optics (including fiber optics), medical and surgical devices, display systems, lighting devices, printing systems, electronic photography, energy storage devices and plastic molding technology. 

John's legal practice spans patent litigation, interferences, validity and infringement investigations, and negotiations and licensing involving all aspects of intellectual property. Joint venture and research and development agreements in an international context are a particular area of his focus. He frequently counsels clients in both the United States and Japan on patent portfolio management and intellectual property strategies.

John currently teaches a course on International Intellectual Property Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. He previously served on the adjunct faculty of George Mason University School of Law, teaching courses on interference practice and other advanced areas of U.S. PTO practice. He also taught international intellectual property law at Temple University Law School’s Tokyo campus. He also was the longest-serving chairman of the Board of Directors of Yokohama International School, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of secondary international education, and he currently chairs the school’s Board of Trustees. John regularly lectures throughout the Pacific Rim on intellectual property law topics. He is also a frequent lecturer on U.S. patent practice at public and in-house seminars in Japan.

Not admitted in Japan.

Andrew Hughes Of Counsel

Tokyo

Andrew Hughes, Of Counsel in the Tokyo office, focuses his practice on representing international equity investors and developers in the acquisition, financing and development, and disposition of solar and wind energy projects; advising renewable energy operators and energy purchasers on corporate PPAs; and representing Japanese investors in investments in overseas renewable energy projects.

Andrew also has significant experience advising on sophisticated real estate and asset finance transactions involving global opportunity funds, banks and other financial institutions.

Prior to joining Orrick’s Energy and Infrastructure Group, Andrew was an in-house counsel at GREE Inc. and Electronic Arts where he gained experience in various corporate and commercial transactions, including joint ventures, cross-border M&A and general corporate matters.

Not Admitted in Japan.

Kentaro Shoji Of Counsel

Tokyo

Kentaro’s practice focuses on the development and financing of various energy projects, representing domestic and international sponsors and developers.

He mainly works on project contracts, including EPC, BOP, O&M contracts and various supply contracts such as TSA. He acquired of great understanding of clients’ needs after a secondment at a Japanese major trading house.

He also has experience advising domestic and overseas financial institutions, real estate funds, real estate developers and other companies on sophisticated real estate and asset finance transactions.

Prior to joining Orrick’s Tokyo Office, Kentaro worked in the Tokyo office of another international law firm where he engaged in cross-border M&A, finance transactions and dispute resolution.

Kane Huang Senior Associate

Tokyo

Kane Huang, a senior associate in Orrick's Tokyo office, is a member of the M&A and Private Equity Group.

Kane advises U.S., and Japanese companies on cross-border M&A, joint venture, strategic investments, technology licensing, and energy related transactions, as well as compliance, corporate governance, and general corporate matters.

In addition to transactions between U.S., and Japanese companies, Kane works on a variety of multijurisdictional transactions involving entities and assets in Asia and Europe.

Kane has gained client-side experience from his secondments to a U.S. and Japan joint venture appliances company from 2015 to 2016, a Japan subsidiary of a U.S. based elevator and escalator company in 2016, and a Japan electric utility company from 2019 to 2020.

Kane worked at Orrick’s Silicon Valley office from 2010 to 2012, where he focused on technology sector M&A.

Sakon Kuramoto Senior Associate

Tokyo

Sakon is an attorney at law admitted to practice in Japan as well as New York, USA. He has been engaged in ESG/SDGs/Business and Human Rights + Environment, VC/Startup, M&A, and Compliance from a strategic perspective, paying attention to both domestic and international aspects based on the needs of Japanese companies expanding overseas.

Among others, as a lawyer specializing in ESG/SDGs/Business and Human Rights, he supports the corporate clients for human rights/environmental due diligence.

He is based in Tokyo and focuses his practice on assisting various companies, and has experience working in the United States and Singapore as well. He has represented a lot of companies in numerous investments and M&A transactions in Japan, the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

As a lawyer specializing in ESG/SDGs/Business and Human Rights + Environment & Climate Change, he is well versed in laws and regulations of various countries to ensure proper supply chain management, international norms and standards related to SDGs, ESGs, and "business and human rights," as well as relevant ILO conventions, and provides support for the promotion of ESG/Impact Investing. He also supports the promotion of ESG/Impact Investing.

He also advises Japanese companies on how to deal with women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ employees from the perspective of promoting stakeholder relations and DI&E (Diversity, Inclusion & Equality) management. From the standpoint of a corporate lawyer, he also assists Japanese companies with the proper handling of foreign workers, including technical interns.

He was appointed by the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a candidate for the Advisory Committee for the Reporting System based on the Tokyo 2020 Code of Sustainable Procurement.

He is also an expert member of the "Platform for Responsible Acceptance of Foreign Workers" (JP-MIRAI), whose secretariat is managed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

He is one of the founders and Steering Committee Officers of the Business and Human Rights Lawyers Japan.

He received the Excellence Award of the 6th "Shin Nihon Hoki Foundation Incentive Award".

Masao Fujino Senior Associate

Tokyo

Masao Fujino is a senior associate in Orrick's Tokyo office who focuses contract negotiation and dispute resolution regarding international collaboration.

He is licensed in Japan, California and New York.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, he was an engineer in a Japanese software company. While he was a legal trainee after passing the Japanese bar examination, he studied at the Japanese space agency (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and the intellectual property division of the Tokyo District Court. He also obtained a masters degree from Stanford Law School as a Fulbright scholar (US government scholarship).

Anri Nakamoto Senior Associate

Tokyo

Anri Nakamoto is a senior associate in Orrick's Tokyo office.

His practice focuses on representing clients in patent litigation, trade secret litigation and other intellectual property disputes as well as licensing matters.  Anri also counsels clients on patent portfolio management, intellectual property strategy developments, adversarial patent licensing negotiations, and other IP related matters in cross-border M&A and strategic business and technology alliances. Prior to joining Orrick, Anri worked for more than 10 years at Hitachi Ltd., Panasonic Corporation and IP Bridge, Inc.   

Gohshun Kawamura Senior Associate

Tokyo

Gohshun Kawamura is a senior associate in Orrick’s Tokyo office and a member of the Energy and Infrastructure Group.

He focuses on the development, acquisition and financing of solar, wind and other renewable energy projects in various regions of Japan. He has experience related to the FIT/FIP system and other laws and regulations related to the electric power industry, as well as negotiations with relevant government agencies, and the preparation and negotiations of related contracts.

In addition, he is involved in establishing schemes and negotiating contracts for the corporate PPAs of non-FIT renewable energy projects, as well as preparing on-site PPAs and general terms and conditions for electricity retailers.

He is the co-author of Orrick’s “Japan Renewables Alert".

Prior to joining Orrick Tokyo Office, he was an assistant judge at the Tokyo District Court and the Matsuyama District Court, where he gained experiences in a variety of cases, including civil, administrative and criminal matters.

Naoyuki Fukuda Associate

Tokyo

Naoyuki Fukuda is an associate in Orrick’s Tokyo office and a member of the Energy and Infrastructure Group.

He mainly works on the development and financing of renewable energy projects as well as general corporate matters. 

Prior to joining Orrick, he worked for an international law firm and a Japanese company where he engaged in M&A, structured finance and renewable energy transactions.

Kazuya Takeda Associate

Tokyo

Kazuya Takeda is an associate and member of the Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group in the Tokyo office.

He focuses on dispute resolution, civil and commercial disputes, labor and employment, compliance and antitrust related matters. He also has experience in general corporate legal affairs.

Before joining Orrick, he worked for Kasame & Associates Co., Ltd. located in Thailand and provided Japanese corporate clients with a variety of legal services regarding Thai laws, including the Personal Data Protection Act, Labour Protection Act, Civil and Commercial Code, Trademark Act, Foreign Business Act, etc. for over two years. Prior to working in Thailand, he was an associate at Okamura Law Office and mainly handled civil litigations, general corporate cases, and trade competition law cases for about three years.