Today, Pillsbury is pleased to welcome Hideki Akiyama as the newest partner in its Tokyo office. Akiyama, who comes to the firm from Atsumi & Sakai where he was a partner, will join Pillsbury’s Corporate & Securities practice.
“Last year was a banner year of success for our corporate practice in Tokyo,” said Pillsbury Chair Jim Rishwain. “With Hideki’s remarkable background representing both United States and Japanese companies, we believe the practice will grow further in 2012 and beyond. At Pillsbury, we are seeing a major increase in outbound investment coming from Japan as a result of the strong yen and captivating investment opportunities generated throughout the global economy. Likewise, with Hideki at Pillsbury, we have enhanced our enduring commitment to our global clients doing business in Asia and Japan and to our Japan clients doing business in the United States and throughout the world.”
For more than a dozen years, Akiyama has represented clients with their general corporate, merger and acquisition, corporate reorganization, global compliance, labor and employment, litigation and dispute resolution needs.
“I am honored to join Pillsbury, which has a strong and growing stable of U.S. and domestic clients in Japan,” Akiyama said. “Over the years, the firm has developed innumerable cross-border opportunities as it has tapped its large geographic footprint spanning California, Texas, New York, the Mid-Atlantic, United Kingdom and the Middle East. I hope to help build on those opportunities as Japanese investors increasingly set their sights overseas.”
Akiyama is a Registered Foreign Lawyer in Japan and is admitted to practice in New York and Georgia. He is fluent in English and Japanese. He earned his law degree at Keio University Faculty School of Law in 1996 and a Juris Doctor degree at Duke University School of Law in 1999. Prior to joining Atsumi & Sakai in 2008, Akiyama was a partner at Schiff Hardin in New York. He is the son of Pillsbury Corporate & Securities partner Takeo Akiyama, who has a global practice but resides in the firm’s New York office.
Pillsbury’s Tokyo office serves a broad and longstanding client base that includes major banks, trading companies, manufacturing, shipping and insurance companies doing business in the United States. One of Pillsbury’s partners is a bengoshi and regularly travels between the firm’s Los Angeles and Tokyo offices.
The attorneys in our Tokyo office are able to provide on-the-spot advice, support and assistance for a wide variety of matters, including acquisition and investment transactions, joint ventures, venture capital financings, bank financings, real estate, licensing and distribution arrangements, intellectual property, and employment and immigration law. The office also provides support for litigation and other forms of dispute resolution.
