- Chair of the Firm: Keith C Wetmore
- WORLDWIDE OFFICES:
Firm Overview:
Morrison & Foerster is a global firm with over 1,000 lawyers across 15 offices in the US,Europe and Asia. Founded in 1883, the firm is dedicated to providing clients,which include some of the largest financial institutions, Fortune 100 companies, and technology and life sciences companies,with legendary service. Clients rely on the firm for innovative and business-minded solutions.The attorneys share a commitment to excellence and a passion for helping clients succeed, resulting in enduring relationships and a record of high achievement. The firm is also among the leaders of the profession in its long-standing commitment to pro bono work. Morrison & Foerster was one of the first international law firms licensed in Japan, opening its Tokyo office in 1987. The Tokyo office includes over three dozen Japanese lawyers with its joint venture firm,Ito & Mitomi. Together, Morrison & Foerster and Ito & Mitomi constitute the largest full-service international law office in Japan. Fifty of the Tokyo-based attorneys are either Japanese nationals or fluent in Japanese. Morrison & Foerster has been handling major matters in greater China for over 20 years, opening its Hong Kong office in 1982, its Beijing office in 1998, and its Shanghai office in 2003.The firm is honoured to have been retained as international legal counsel to the Beijing Organising Committee for the XXIX Olympiad in connection with its activities for the 2008 Summer Games.
Main Areas of Practice:
Corporate:
Morrison & Foerster regularly advises clients on mergers and acquisitions worldwide. The Tokyo Corporate Group has extensive experience representing both Japanese and non-Japanese companies in the formation of strategic alliances and joint ventures in Japan and worldwide. Morrison & Foerster/Ito & Mitomi are also active in representing issuers and underwriters in a wide range of debt and equity offerings.The Corporate Group is active in all aspects of the evolving private equity marketplace in Japan, including a wide range of buy-out and seed financings.
The China Practice has considerable experience in representing issuers and underwriters in public and private offerings of securities in Hong Kong and US markets, including Hong Kong initial public offerings, secondary offerings and rights issues,ADR programs, US listings,Rule 144A private placements, block trades,PIPEs and global offerings.The China offices have also pioneered new types of securities transactions, including the first Hong Kong Stock Exchange Main Board listing by a Nasdaq-listed company, O2Micro, and the US initial public offering and follow-on securities matters by NetEase, one of the major PRC internet portals.
Technology Transactions:
Morrison & Foerster’s Tokyo IP/Technology Transactions Group is particularly active in the areas of computer hardware and software, information technology, biotechnology and new media, offering a combination of strong crossborder transactional and litigation experience, and in-depth knowledge of applicable intellectual property and regulatory issues.The China offices are particularly active in the areas of IT outsourcing, services procurement and delivery, licensing, restructuring and hive down arrangements and regulatory support.
Biotechnology:
The firm has one of the premier biotechnology/life sciences patent practices,with the largest IP practice devoted to the life sciences of any full-service law firm.The Tokyo office represents some of the leading participants in the biotechnology,pharmaceutical, and medical device and equipment industries in Japan.
Litigation:
Morrison & Foerster is one of the world’s premier litigation firms. In Japan, Morrison & Foerster is the only international law firm with a full-service litigation capability, focused on international commercial litigation, with special emphasis on intellectual property litigation and US product liability cases.They are well equipped to handle all aspects of US litigation and international arbitration, and call upon Ito & Mitomi’s attorneys to represent clients in variety of commercial litigation matters in Japan. In addition to dispute resolution, the firm specialises in adversarial patent license negotiations and compliance investigations of all types throughout Asia, with particular emphasis on Japan and China.
Finance:
Morrison & Foerster’s Tokyo office offers clients one of the largest and most comprehensive finance practices of any international law firm in Japan,with substantial experience in handling a wide array of domestic and international financial and financial restructuring transactions and a particular focus on bank finance and bank regulatory matters and project finance.
Real Estate:
The firm offers leading real estate teams in Tokyo and China representing lenders, borrowers, opportunity funds and other investors in a wide range of finance, joint venture, acquisition and development transactions. It is also one of the few groups that has been active in the formation of, and offering of interests in, J-REITs.
Key Clients:
The firm clients in Tokyo include many of Japan’s most substantial and active companies, including Astellas, Fujitsu,Hitachi, Kirin,K onica Minolta, Mitsui, Nikon, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Rakuten, Ricoh, Softbank, Sumitomo, TDK, Toshiba and Yahoo Japan. The firm also serves Japan’s major financial institutions and investors such as AMB, Citigroup, Daiwa, Deutsche Bank, ING Real Estate Investment Management, JP Morgan, Mizuho, MUFG, Nomura and UBS.T he firm’s clients in China include leading financial institutions and institutional investors such as Carlyle, Goldman Sachs, UBS, BNP Paribas, Macquarie, CCBI, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, and Warburg Pincus. The firm also advises major multinational and China-based companies, including UPS, Dell, EMC,Thomson, Metro International, Angang NewSteel, Dalian Port Company Limited, China Huiyuan, AMB Property Corporation, Fujitsu, Restoration Hardware, China Resources Power Holdings, China Gold Resources International, and Harbin Pharmaceutical.