Hirohito Akagami

Leaders in Law endorses Hirohito Akagami as our exclusively recommended M&A Law expert in Japan. If you wish to get in touch with Hirohito please use the contact information provided above.

Hirohito Akagami is a partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, engaged principally in the fields of financial, corporate and commercial law, with an emphasis on securities work and M&A.  Typically, these transactions involve Mr Akagami representing the purchasers for a number of tender offers, which he has been doing for more than 20 years. Another typical example of his work is advising foreign and Japanese investors on Japanese corporate governance-related matters (including shareholder proposal and hostile takeover-related issues) and regulatory issues. He also advises clients in a number of domestic and cross-border syndicated loans, securities (including stock awards to officers) and other financial transactions and matters.

Mr Akagami graduated from Tokyo University in 1986 and received his LLM (with merits) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (part of the University of London) in 1993. He was also seconded to Slaughter and May, in London and Brussels, in 1993 and 1994. He is a member of the Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association in Japan (1988 to present) and speaks fluent Japanese and English.

Firm Description:

Anderson Mori & Tomotsune is a full-service law firm formed by the winning combination of three leading law firms in Japan: Anderson Mori, one of the largest international firms in Japan which was best known for serving overseas companies doing business in Japan since the early 1950s; Tomotsune & Kimura, particularly well known for its expertise in international finance transactions; and Bingham Sakai Mimura Aizawa, a premier international insolvency/restructuring and crisis-management firm.

Our combined firm provides an extraordinarily powerful value proposition. Housing all of these synergistic practices under one roof, and further growing our resources, we are able to serve a multinational client base on inbound, outbound and domestic projects by providing expert, timely and cost-efficient advice across a full range of legal issues, and in the largest, most complex, cross-sector transactions.

We are proud of our long tradition of serving the international business and legal communities, and of our reputation as one of the largest full-service law firms in Japan. Our combined expertise enables us to deliver comprehensive advice on virtually all legal issues that may arise from a corporate transaction, including those related to M&A; finance; capital markets and restructuring/insolvency; and litigation/arbitration. The majority of our lawyers are bilingual and experienced in communicating, drafting and negotiating across borders and around the globe. We welcome the opportunity to work closely with clients and channel our resources towards our goal of achieving more together.

We are headquartered in Tokyo with branch offices in Osaka and Nagoya. Outside Japan, we have offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok. We also have associated firms in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Singapore.

Practice Areas
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune is among the largest and most diversified law firms in Japan offering full corporate services. Our flexible operational structure enables us to provide our corporate clients with effective and time-sensitive solutions to legal issues of any kind. We are pleased to serve Japanese companies as well as foreign companies doing business in Japan. In response to the increasingly complex and varied legal needs of our clients, we have grown significantly, augmenting both the breadth and depth of expertise of our practice.

Corporate: corporate and commercial transactions; corporate governance; shareholders’ meetings and relationships with shareholders; shareholder activism; corporate disputes; support for start-ups; and establishing a business presence in Japan.

M&A: M&A/business restructuring; joint ventures; business alliances; venture capital; private equity/funds; hostile takeovers; and cross-border M&A.

Corporate crisis management: internal investigations; third-party committee and other outside investigations; improper accounting; food/product/environmental-related accidents; breaches of anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws and regulations; white-collar crimes; leakage of personal information; leaking of commercial secrets; whistleblowing; anti-social forces; shareholder/derivative lawsuits; corporate scandal-related securities; and other civil litigation.

Capital markets

Finance and financial institutions: banking; financial regulation; derivatives; asset management and investment funds; structured finance; real estate finance; acquisition finance; project finance; asset finance; PPP/PFI/concession; insurance; fintech; and financial and securities dispute resolution.

Real estate: real estate transactions, investment, finance and dispute resolution; and REITs.

Labour and employment: disputes; unions; dealing with regulators; harassment; severance; corporate restructuring-related matters; working conditions including salary; retirement allowance and pension; employee health and safety (including mental health); executive issues (board members and auditors); non-regular employment; drafting and review of work rules and employment contracts; social insurance and labour insurance; immigration; and compliance.

Intellectual property/life sciences/TMT: IP disputes; IP licensing and transactions; patent prosecution; trademark/design prosecution; copyright and entertainment; healthcare; pharmaceuticals; and IT and telecoms law and regulation.

Competition/Antitrust: International cartels and leniency; merger control; dominance and other unilateral conduct; interplay of IP and competition law; distribution; litigation; and compliance.

Tax: tax planning and structuring; litigation and dispute resolution; and international taxation.

Energy and natural resources

Dispute resolution: resolution of disputes relating to IP, labour and employment, product liability, finance and securities, administrative, franchise, real estate, Companies Act, estates and business succession, consumer matters, insurance, IT, trade secrets, tax and pharmaceuticals; general commercial litigation; international litigation and cross-border disputes; alternative dispute resolution; litigation related to tax, competition, and energy and natural resources; civil litigation (including corporate scandal securities matters; and international arbitration.

Restructuring/insolvency and bankruptcy: creditor representations; sponsor/buyer representations; debtor representations; management representations; cross-border restructurings; financial institution insolvencies; court appointments; financial transactions; bankruptcy related litigation; and liquidations.

International trade

International practice: Asia; Australia; the US; the EU; Central and South America; Middle East; Russia; Africa; and other jurisdictions.

Number of attorneys: Approximately 540

Number of partners: 158

Number of offices: 10 (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Jakarta)

Languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (Mandarin)