Etsuko Hara is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune with broad experience in the area of antitrust, including international cartel cases, multi-jurisdictional merger filings as well as distribution arrangements, franchising, and strategic alliances. She handles various inbound and outbound cross border transactions, especially in the form of direct investment, joint ventures, and distribution, license and franchise agreements.

Yoshiharu Usuki is a partner at Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune with broad experience in the area of antitrust/competition law. In the competition area, he is particularly experienced in Japan Fair Trade Commission cartel investigations and other foreign competition authority cartel investigations, bid rigging and other serious alleged violations. Also he is broadly experienced in anti-trust and competition matters relating to dominance regulations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, distribution agreements and license agreements. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune, he worked for the London law firm of Fieldfisher LLP, as a foreign lawyer (2014 to 2015).

Takeshi Ishida is a Japanese qualified lawyer, and a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune. He specializes in competition law, including defense against agency investigations into cartel, bid-rigging and unfair unilateral conduct, antitrust litigations and merger control, with special expertise in issues involving information technologies and intellectual property rights, based on his practical insight gained from first-hand experiences of handling leading cases in the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC). Prior to joining the firm, he was appointed as a deputy director at investigation bureau in the JFTC for 3 years. During his tenure, he was a lead case-handler in the Intellectual Property Task Force at the investigation bureau, dealing with investigations and litigations against IT major companies over cutting-edge cases. Moreover, he also acted as a chief investigator responsible for investigating on a wide range of infringement cases such as cartel, bid-rigging and unfair unilateral conduct, conducting dawn raids over more than a dozen cases, and also representing the JFTC before the Tokyo district court and administrative hearings. Before serving for the Japanese agency, he practiced with Blakemore & Mitsuki as a senior associate, advising mainly on competition law issues to clients, such as a patent pool company and major IT companies, and dealing with merger control and litigations. Besides his competition law expertise, his practices encompass the full range of general corporate issues, with considerable experience in litigations and white crime matters, and he also has a deep knowledge of information and communication technology sector.

Shigeyoshi Ezaki is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and has a general corporate practice, which includes advising and assisting Japanese and foreign clients with respect to antimonopoly law, corporate law, trade regulations and intellectual property law. In addition to his professional experience at the firm, Mr. Ezaki worked for the New York firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a foreign attorney (1998 to 1999).

Junichi Kondo is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and is engaged principally in the fields of general corporate matters with an emphasis on M&A, joint venture and other corporate transactions including M&A-related financing. His scope of experience also includes healthcare matters including pharmaceutical regulations and software licensing.

Shinji Kusakabe specializes in advising on legal issues in manufacturing, such as commercial transactions and product liabilities. Mr. Kusakabe has a wealth of practical experience in litigation and arbitration, both international and domestic. Mr. Kusakabe's particular specialties lie in providing targeted advice to clients on corporate matters, taking into consideration potential future disputes, and in resolving current disputes in light of actual business practices and circumstances. Cases which Mr. Kusakabe has recently handled include lawsuits related to termination of commercial relationships, illegal transactions conducted by employees, product liability, bid-rigging conspiracies and inventions by employees. Mr. Kusakabe is also actively engaged in international arbitration, including matters arbitrated outside Japan. In addition to his professional experience at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Mr. Kusakabe's prior experience includes working as a Foreign Associate at Kelley Drye & Warren's New York office (September 1999 to August 2000) and a full-time secondment to Swiss Bank Corporation's (now UBS AG) Tokyo Legal & Compliance department (February to July 1998). Mr. Kusakabe also served as: Executive Director, the Headquarters for Comprehensive Promotion of Civil Justice Reform of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from June 2026); Member of the Advisory Committee for the Establishment of Civil Rules of the Supreme Court (from August 2025); Special Assistant to the President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from April 2025 to September 2025); President of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association (from April 2024 to March 2025); Vice President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from April 2024 to March 2025); Expert Member of the Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Review Board (from June 2022 to June 2023); Member of the Code of Civil Procedure (for Introduction of IT) Subcommittee of the Legislative Council of the Ministry of Justice (from June 2020 to February 2022); Governor of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from April 2020 to March 2021; Executive Governor from June 2020 to March 2021); Chair of the Committee on Civil Procedure of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (from June 2019 to May 2021); Examiner for the National Bar Examination and the National Preliminary Bar Examination (in Charge of the Code of Civil Procedure) (from November 2018 to November 2021); Vice President of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association (from April 2017 to March 2018); and Practicing-Attorney-Professor for Civil Advocacy at the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan (from April 2010 to March 2013) (for details of this position, please visit http://www.courts.go.jp/english/institute_01/institute/index.html#Intro ).

Atsushi Yamada is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune focusing on competition/antitrust law. His practice covers all aspects of competition/antitrust law including assisting clients in investigations by competition authorities (cartels/dominance/unfair trade practices), representation in courts/tribunals challenging decisions made by competition authorities, follow-on civil litigation, and merger filings. He also provides advice relating to structuring new businesses and compliance programs. His clients include both multinational and Japanese companies in various industries, such as information technology, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, construction, transportation, financial institutions and trading houses. Prior to joining Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, he has worked at the Tokyo office of a US law firm and a local Japanese firm after serving as a judge at the Tokyo District Court as well as other courts. With such background, he has extensive experience in litigation and general corporate matters. He is also well experienced in providing labor and employment law advice to both Japanese and non-Japanese companies.

Mr. Yoshinori Aoyagi is a partner working primarily in the fields of M&A including cross border transactions. He has also been advising on various corporate law related issues including shareholders meetings and corporate governance. He has also been involved with antitrust issues including merger control and has also been advising on healthcare and life science related issues.

Takeshi Suzuki is working mainly in the fields of antitrust and competition law, M&A transactions and other corporate legal affairs. Prior to joining Anderson Mōri & Tomotsune, he practiced cross-border M&A transaction matters as well as Japan and EU competition law in Tokyo and Brussels for approximately four years at a leading UK firm and then worked for the Merger Investigation Division of the Japan Fair Trade Commission as a chief case handler of merger filings for approximately two years. With this background, his practice focuses on Japan and international competition law with a particular emphasis on merger control. He also provides legal advice in a number of matters related to domestic cartel/bid rigging, distribution, intellectual property, Subcontract Act.