The leading Japanese law office ATSUMI & SAKAI and JANSSEN FOREIGN LAW OFFICE have entered into a Foreign Law Joint Enterprise to form integrated legal teams in the closest form of cooperation between Japanese and foreign lawyers. In this way, we combine the bridge function of a foreign law office with the legal expertise of a leading Japanese law firm.
With about 100 Japanese and foreign professionals in practice groups covering the entire field of business law, ATSUMI & SAKAI is one of the ten largest Japanese law firms. In order to better serve clients, the firm has established a foreign law joint enterprise in Japan with senior foreign lawyers. Building on its award-winning practices, the firm has been recognized for both excellence and its innovative capability in fields as various as cross border transactions, banking (including syndicated loans, securitization/structured finance, and project finance), Mergers & Acquisitions, Energy, Oil/Gas, Construction/Infrastructure, Antitrust law, cross border litigation and insolvency/ADR, the creation and management of investment funds, IP/IT practice both inbound and outbound, and labor and employment law.
Based on our over 15 years of experience in legal consulting for European investors in Japan and our thorough understanding of their needs, JANSSEN FOREIGN LAW OFFICE can make best use of the rich resources of ATSUMI & SAKAI in order to create a fully integrated and specialized team of Japanese and foreign lawyers for each case.
For its services in Europe, JANSSEN FOREIGN LAW OFFICE has a broad network of reputable and dependable professionals.
We advise on all major aspects of corporate law. Our scope of advice includes in particular M&A and Joint Venture transactions, company law, corporate restructurings, corporate governance and compliance as well as labor law and regulatory matters.
Our clients are small and medium size as well as large corporations (listed and unlisted) and groups across various sectors. Understanding the respective industry both in Japan and Germany allows us to give our clients tailored advice in particular in the German-Japanese environment. Before this background, our clients appreciate, that we do not only provide sound legal advice in their most sensitive matters but also are prepared to be a strategic advisor to our clients.
Rather small but focused and always prepared to walk an extra mile has earned us a reputation as creating additional value for our clients and (at least sometimes) making the seemingly impossible actually possible.
General corporate advice we can give includes in particular:
Our team includes lawyers fluent in Japanese, English, German, Chinese, Spanish and French. This allows us to read, understand and comment on documents in these languages without translation and we can also communicate in these languages.
We are advising our clients on all relevant issues regarding intellectual property protection, competition law and copyright law. We also provide counsel on the most efficacious methods of establishing and developing IP holdings so clients can realize the most value from those assets.
Furthermore, we are experienced in commercial, legal and regulatory issues in the information technology, telecommunications, media and e-commerce industries.
Our clients appreciate that we are familiar with key contractual terms in the relevant sectors and our ability to come up with innovative solutions.
IP law related advice that we give includes in particular advising on:
Our team includes lawyers fluent in Japanese, English, German, Chinese, Spanish and French. This allows us to read, understand and comment on documents in these languages without translation and we can also communicate in these languages.
We are advising our clients regarding all aspects of (individual and collective) labor and employment law, including works constitution, collective bargaining, restructuring and outsourcing. Our clients are mainly Japanese companies in Germany and European and US companies in Japan. Often we are entrusted with restructurings or transaction work that entail a variety of labor law related issues. In these cases, our advice ranges from employment law due diligence, over respective provisions in the transactional documents and incentive and retention programs for the management to post merger integration and restructuring matters such as secondments or (mass) dismissals.
Our clients appreciate, that we can compare the situation in Japan with the situation in Europe and thus explain the differences rather than the whole system which is much more efficient and less costly.
General labor, employment & pension law advice that we give includes in particular advising on:
Our team includes lawyers fluent in Japanese, English, German, Chinese, Spanish and French. This allows us to read, understand and comment on documents in these languages without translation and we can also communicate in these languages.
We provide counseling on all types of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, construction, development, leasing and management of real estate. Our clients include lenders, borrowers, investors, developers and landlords/occupiers.
Furthermore, we also help our clients during the construction phase of a project, e.g. by drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts with architects, engineers, contractors and other consultants.
Our clients told us that they appreciate in particular our ability to think outside the box which in one recent case has helped us to acquire a large piece of land in Japan, which was formerly regarded as impossible to acquire due to a lack of registration of the respective owners over the course of several generations. Appealing to certain old customs of oral division of estate resulted in the acknowledgement of tax-representatives as owners by METI as legal basis for the project.
General real estate advice that we give includes in particular advising on:
Our team includes lawyers fluent in Japanese, English, German, Chinese, Spanish and French. This allows us to read, understand and comment on documents in these languages without translation and we can also communicate in these languages.
We advise on local and cross-border disputes in Japan and in Germany in and out of court including complex litigation in commercial and corporate law matters. We give our clients guidance in courts, tribunals, and before governmental bodies. In public law matters we liaise to the extent possible and appropriate with the respective law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities.
When dealing with litigation, our aim is to resolve any disputes as efficiently as possible keeping in mind our clients best interest.
Our clients engage us for litigation matters as the solutions we are offering are always practical and commercial, aiming at managing risks smartly and avoid litigation if appropriate.
Litigation advice that we give includes in particular advising on:
Our team includes lawyers fluent in Japanese, English, German, Chinese, Spanish and French. This allows us to read, understand and comment on documents in these languages without translation and we can also communicate in these languages.
