We are very pleased to announce that Mr. Yoshiaki Sakurada, Of Counsel joined our firm as of August 1, 2009.

Mr. Sakurada received his Bachelor of Laws from Kyoto University in 1968 and completed a doctoral course at the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University in 1975. Mr. Sakurada served as a Professor at the Graduate School of Law, Hokkaido University from 1975 to 1985, Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University from 1985 to 2008 and is currently a Professor at Konan Law School. He is also associated with various academic societies such as the Private International Law Association of Japan, where he served as President from 2002 to 2008, and the Division of Private International Law, Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice, of which he was Division Head from 2003 to 2006. Mr. Sakurada currently is the President of the Japanese Society of International Law and is also a member of the Science Council of Japan.

We warmly welcome him to our firm. With our desire to continually increase our capacity to handle complex legal projects, the addition of Mr. Sakurada and his wealth of experience and knowledge is one we are very positive about.