Anderson Mori & Tomotsune has a wide-ranging litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution practice that encompasses the many facets of business in Japan. We have extensive experience in areas that closely reflect the international nature of our client base and the international experience and diversity of our people. Our firm is able to provide a complete dispute resolution service to our clients, ranging from preliminary advice aimed at early resolution and prevention of disputes to the conduct of complex trials. Our attorneys have experience working in overseas jurisdictions and include former judges, including a Supreme Court Justice. In addition to engaging in the day-to-day conduct of dispute resolution, some of our attorneys are involved in imparting their experience to students through university lecturing.

Our established dispute resolution attorneys are regularly involved in the following types of litigation within Japan:

• International trade cases
• Intellectual property cases
• Labor cases
• Financial transactions cases (including claims arising from swap and derivative transactions, and initial public offering disputes)
• Corporate insolvency and bankruptcy cases (including acting on behalf of Bankruptcy trustees/administrators)
  
• Tax cases
• General commercial cases (including joint venture, M&A and takeover bid based disputes, loan and other debt collection claims, rent review claims, petitions for injunctive remedies in defamation claims or undermined creditability claims, claims for removal from property and commercial non-litigation cases)
• Product liability cases
• Antitrust cases (including advice during investigations by regulators)
• Real property disputes

In today’s global trade environment, dispute resolution services must also span national borders. At Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, we have had over 50 years of experience serving the international business community with operations in Japan. We are widely regarded as the most internationally focused of all Japanese law firms. Our international experience has come with the ability to recognize cultural, political or environmental issues that are relevant in other jurisdictions - giving our clients an important advantage in settling their disputes.

Below is a sample of the international services we offer:

• Orientation advice to Japanese clients concerning legal proceedings abroad, and introduction to and liaising with overseas local counsel representing Japanese clients abroad
• Service of court documents in litigation abroad
• Evidence collection support for litigation abroad (including preparing affidavits, conducting discovery in Japan, taking depositions of Japanese nationals at Embassies and Consulates in Japan, and carrying out witness examinations under international agreements for mutual assistance in judicial proceedings)
• Advice on the recognition and enforcement of overseas judgments and arbitral decisions in Japan, and related enforcement proceedings
• Cross border and multi jurisdictional Intellectual Property proceedings

Our attorneys always scrutinize alternatives to litigation in seeking the best commercial results for our clients. As a result, we have developed a high level of expertise in both representing clients and acting as arbitrators in commercial arbitrations.

We have had extensive experience arbitrating and representing clients in arbitrations filed with and administered under the rules of the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA); International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); American Arbitration Association (AAA); London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Daini Tokyo Bar Association, as well as ad hoc arbitrations and other dispute resolution methods.

Some of our attorneys also regularly conduct activities with the Japan Association of Arbitrators.

• Counsel for an overseas government against over 20 Japanese construction companies in a bid-rigging conspiracy case.
  
• Counsel for US and Brazilian companies against a Japanese company in an international commercial arbitration conducted in Tokyo.
  
• Counsel for an Indian company against a Japanese company in an international commercial arbitration conducted in Singapore.
• Counsel for a Japanese importer in a product liability case filed by its customers in Japan. As the manufacturer of the defective product was a third party German company, we filed a formal notice of lawsuit with the court, which was served on the German company in accordance with the Hague Service Convention.
• Counsel for a Swiss-based bank against a Japanese trading house in a damage claim case (the claimed amount is over JPY 20 billion, which is one of the highest amounts currently disputed before the Japanese courts).
• Acting as an expert witness for the United States Internal Revenue Service in a tax grievance petition by an American company which resulted in the Tax Court dismissing the case.
• Counsel for a European company regarding a business dispute with its Japanese joint venture partner. The Tokyo District Court granted a preliminary injunction which allowed our client to recover control over the joint venture subsidiary.
• Counsel for a Korean manufacturer in a commercial arbitration brought by a Japanese company to the JCAA. The JCAA appointed a prominent law professor as the sole arbitrator. We argued that JCAA had no jurisdiction because the arbitration clause was poorly drafted. The arbitrator agreed with us and dismissed the arbitration.
• Counsel for a Japanese company in a confidential private mediation to resolve a dispute between a bank and a leasing company. The core issue was who should bear swap breakage costs incurred by restructuring a U.S.-based aircraft lease transaction. Both parties jointly appointed a retired judge as the sole mediator, and the dispute was resolved within a month as a result of expedited proceedings.
• Counsel for a subsidiary of an international manufacturer in various lawsuits filed by the holders of promissory notes. Those promissory notes had been stolen from the safe of our client and thereafter alleged bona fide third parties purchased them. In total nine plaintiffs filed suit. We won all of the cases at the district court level (Tokyo District Court and Niigata District Court), except for the ones voluntarily withdrawn. One case was appealed to the Tokyo High Court and we reached a settlement under conditions favorable to our client.