Atsumi & Partners Continues To Expand: Merger And Name Change
November, 2010 - Tokyo, Japan
Atsumi & Sakai (formerly Atsumi & Partners) is pleased to announce that a team of 8 lawyers previously with TMI Associates and led by Mr. Yutaka Sakai has joined the firm; 7 of the team joined as partners and, as a result, the firm has been renamed “Atsumi & Sakai”. Mr. Sakai has over 25 years experience advising both domestic and foreign clients on general banking, real estate finance, securitisation, asset finance, project finance, and other finance transactions, and will further strengthen the firm’s multi-award-winning banking, securitisation and finance practice. Other members of the new team have significant experience in corporate, labour, real estate, finance, bankruptcy, domestic and cross-border M&A, emissions, and environmental law.
Atsumi & Sakai’s Managing Partner Hiroo Atsumi commented “We remain positive about the financial markets and corporate activity and continue to expand across all our practice areas, both locally and internationally. The addition of Mr. Sakai and his team (seven of whom will be joining as Partners) will put us in a strong position as the markets recover and the local, regional and international economies pick up”.
Yutaka Sakai commented “The synergies between former Atsumi & Partners and our team will significantly enhance the service we can offer our respective clients as well as diversifying both parties’ practices. We very much share Mr. Atsumi’s view of the need for Japanese law firms to expand and internationalise to meet the challenges of the global market for legal services”.
About Atsumi & Sakai (formerly Atsumi & Partners):
Atsumi & Sakai is a multi-award-winning independent full-service Tokyo law firm, and the only major one with non-Japanese partners. Operating as an integrated international team, we advise international and domestic companies and financial institutions on all aspects of finance and business law, utilising our Japanese expertise and the international know-how of our foreign partners, who together have more than 50 years experience with major law firms. Building from our established reputation as Japan’s premier securitisation and structured finance law firm, Atsumi & Sakai now provides a full-service capability, and was recently voted Japan’s “Most Responsive Firm” in a survey of over 15,000 in-house counsel. In addition to our core Japanese law practice, we are also able to advise on the laws of New York, England & Wales, Germany, the State of Victoria (Australia), the PRC, California and Ohio.
