Welcome to ALB Virtual Japan In-House Legal Summit 2020
Date:                   9 June 2020
Event:                 9.00am to 12.30pm, Tokyo Time (GMT+9)
Delivered Via:    Webinar

Guest-Of-Honour

MASUGUCHI Yutaka, Director, Competition Enhancement Office, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
MASUGUCHI Yutaka, Director, Competition Enhancement Office, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)(4/2019-present), Director, General Affairs Division, Hokkaido Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry(6/2017), Deputy Mayor of Kaminoyama City(4/2007-3/2012)), Joined Ministry of International trade and Industry (MITI)（4/1990）

Summit Chairperson

Takayuki Kitajima, Chairman, International Corporate Counsel Association
Joined Unilever in 2006 as General Counsel. Become director of Unilever Japan Holdings in 2009, and then Representative Director from 2012. Prior to Unilever, joined Sojitz Corporation after graduated from Waseda University.

Speakers And Panelists

Ben Rusch, Vice President, Review Solutions, Consilio
Ben Rusch is a Vice President at Consilio. He is responsible for review projects in Europe and Asia as well as leading the European and Asian recruitment teams. Ben studied law at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining Consilio, he worked as an Associate for some of the world’s leading law firms. He qualified as a Solicitor with Herbert Smith (London) where he joined their Equity Capital Markets department upon qualification.

He also worked as an Associate in the EU & Competition department of Ashurst in Brussels and as an Associate in the EU & Competition group of King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin in London. Ben has extensive experience in EU merger control and advised clients in the UK, Belgium, Taiwan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, South Africa, Greece and Brazil on complex mergers across a wide range of industries. Cases before the European Commission include Case No COMP/M.5180 – Manitowoc/Enodis; Case No COMP/M.4966 – Cinven/Coor Management Services; Case No COMP/M.5051 – APW/GMG/EMAP; and Case No COMP/M.4961 – Cookson / Foseco.

While in private practice, Ben also dealt with multiple cartel investigations and was part of the legal team which, in the context of a worldwide, multiauthority cartel investigation, worked on one of the most high-profile leniency applications to date. Ben helped develop competition law compliance programmes for two of the largest companies in Europe and advised non-EU law firms on EU leniency procedure. Ben also has a strong interest in risk arbitrage and advised 19 of the world’s largest hedge funds on risk arbitrage, EU merger control procedure and statistical modelling in an antitrust context.

Ben speaks English, German, French and basic Greek.

Sanjay Shah, Managing Director, Asia, iManage
Sanjay brings more than 30 years of experience running software companies, with his main focus being on operations, sales and business development. In his current role he is responsible for developing the iManage business throughout Asia, leveraging and working closely with the current Partner community, expanding the Partner ecosystem, and managing customer/prospect relationships across all iManage solutions and product sets. Sanjay has a B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering from IIT, Mumbai and an M.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. He currently resides in Bangalore, India.

Axel Kuhlmann, Foreign Law Partner, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Axel Kuhlmann is a corporate and M&A lawyer qualified in Germany and a Foreign Law Partner of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. He has wide-ranging experience in the German and European market advising Japanese and global companies on all kinds of German law issues and on their business activities in Germany and other European countries. Also, he regularly advises German clients on their business activities in Japan.  Axel’s focus is on complex cross-border transactions including multi-jurisdiction carve-outs and international joint ventures.

Axel graduated from the University of Passau, from which he also holds a doctor iuris, and took his second state examination at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg. He was admitted to the Hamburg bar in 2011 and to the Tokyo bar as registered foreign lawyer in 2017. Before joining Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Axel worked for one of Germany's leading business law firms as associated partner and member of the firm's Japan practice group. 

Makoto Ohnuma, Senior Associate Lawyer, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Makoto Ohnuma is a senior associate lawyer at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. Since he joined the firm in 2010, he has been working at its corporate and M&A practice group with the focus on M&A, joint ventures, and other strategic corporate transactions, and has broad experiences in cross-border matters between Europe and Japan. After his study at Columbia Law School (LL.M.), he was seconded to leading law firms in Germany, the Netherlands and Russia during 2016-2019. 

Yuichiro (Yu) Watanabe, Senior Legal Counsel, Head of Legal, Airbnb Japan 
Yu is Senior Legal Counsel and Head of the Legal Department at Airbnb Japan. He is the youngest person to have been named In-House Lawyer of the Year (at Japan Law Awards 2018). Yu’s team also won Technology, Media and Telecommunications In-House Team of the Year 2019 for their demonstration of leadership and innovation as they enable expansion of home-sharing in Japan. He delivered a presentation at TechLaw Tokyo 2019. Yu is a member of the Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association and the Japan In-House Lawyers Association (JILA) serving as Deputy Secretary General and a Member of the Board.

Mitsuru “Mitch” Misawa, General Counsel, Japan, Enfinity Global / Pacific Solar GK
Mitch handles day-to-day legal and business issues happening in the invested 12 solar power projects and a wind power project. He is also leading a sale process of a solar power project, by reviewing transaction documents, controlling external counsels, and, as the general partner, arranging with the limited partner. Mitch is currently also leading the financing processes of 4 solar power projects to execute project financing agreements, by reviewing transaction documents, controlling external counsels, and arranging with the limited partner. He is responsible for drafting and reviewing EPC contracts for 5 solar power projects, working with and giving instructions to external counsels.　

Yoshiaki Sakurai, VP, Chief Legal Officer, Mercari, Inc.
Sakurai has over 20 years experience started his career at Nishimura & Asahi Law Office from 2000 followed by his first in-house counsel career at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd. He then joined Merpay as the Legal Head in 2018. In 2019, he was appointed Mercari’s CLO (Chief Legal Officer).and Vice President of Mercari. Graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law and New York University School of Law (LLM) and registered both in Japan and New York.

Hiromi Furushima, Corporate Officer, Head of Legal/IP Department, General Counsel, Novartis Pharma KK.
Hiromi jointed Novartis in April 2011, and after serving various roles, she assumed the current position since June 2015.  

Prior to joining Novartis, she spent 13 years as an attorney in private practice at Koga & Partners, Nishimura & Asahi and Morrison & Foerster/Ito & Mitomi in Tokyo, doing various corporate and IP transactional works.  

She also serves as a director of the Japan Pharmaceutical Industry Legal Affairs Association and a member of Intellectual Property Committee of Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association.

She received her Master of Jurisprudence from Stanford Law School and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tokyo, and is admitted to practice in Japan and California.

Shintaro Fujiki, Counsel, Philip Morris Japan Ltd.
Shintaro is currently a counsel at Philip Morris Japan located at its Tokyo office.  He is a seasoned lawyer with over 20 years of in-house and law firm experience in legal field, both in Japan and in the United States, in vast industries including heavy electric machinery, audio and visual, personal care, tobacco products, etc.  Shintaro is fluent in English and has spent 13 years in San Francisco, California where he obtained his J.D. degree from Golden Gate University and subsequently his certification to practice law in California.