We, Tokyo International Law Office (“TKI”) would like to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support during the past year.

Many Legal Challenges Ahead

Last year companies faced various legal challenges in their business activities, such as fraud issues that rocked the automobile and non-life insurance industries, hostile takeover bids by domestic and foreign companies and investment funds, increased investor activist activities, data leaks from cyberattacks and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, to name a few. In the second half of the year, major shifts in the global political landscape occurred with the of the new prime minister taking office in Japan and the presidential election in the United States. Under these circumstances, the legal issues faced by companies have expanded significantly beyond traditional legal issues to global trade tariffs, security and corporate governance-related issues, posing extra challenges to in-house legal and risk management teams.

The management of companies will continue to face similar challenges this year, and will need to respond to various forms of external pressure, such as intensified activities by hostile bidders and activist investors, coupled with pressure to manage capital costs, stock prices and cross-shareholdings. It is also expected that management decisions will involve review of their business portfolios and acceleration of business restructuring in both Japan and overseas. In addition, against the backdrop of strong corporate performance and increased M&A and growth investments in both Japan and overseas, this year is expected to be one with increased legal risks in international corporate and geopolitical landscape, including growing uncertainty from the future trade policy by U.S. President-elect Trump, rekindling of the U.S.-China trade friction and volatile market conditions.

Strengthening our capabilities and reputation as a “Tokyo-headquartered international firm”

Since our establishment in April 2019 with the goal of becoming a “Tokyo-headquartered international firm”, we have been building and growing an international team of lawyers based in Tokyo who can provide legal services advising on the laws of major jurisdictions around the world. Particularly in the last year, we have significantly expanded our team with lateral hires of senior Japanese and foreign lawyers, and the number of our lawyers has grown to about 40 in just over 5 years since our establishment. As of today, in addition to Japanese laws, we provide legal services advising on the laws of the U.S., England and Wales, France, India, and China, and also have lawyers qualified to practice in the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand, allowing us to offer one of the broadest international legal capabilities in Japan.

Furthermore, with the addition of a partner specializing in taxation last year, we have launched a new international taxation practice, including transfer pricing capabilities. Enforcement by Japanese and foreign tax authorities is becoming more rigorous in response to increased cross-border corporate activities, and international tax issues are expected to become an even greater corporate challenge in the future. In addition, we will continue to enhance our capabilities for remote in-house services to tailor our services to the unique client needs and alleviate the resourcing challenges of in-house legal departments.

In 2024 we had the privilege of assisting our clients with many high-profile projects and matters, including cross-border M&A transactions in Europe, the U.S., Asia and worldwide, takeover bids of listed companies, portfolio restructuring and carve-out deals, energy and infrastructure projects, international dispute matters including trial advocacy and international arbitration, corporate crisis management and fraud investigation matters.

As a result of strengthening our core practices as well as launching new practices through successful hiring, TKI was selected as the Best Boutique Law Firm in 2024 in the Asia Business Law Journal's 2024 Japan Law Firm Awards, and our international reputation has grown significantly.

Two bases in Tokyo and Singapore

In addition to our Tokyo office, we have established TKI (Singapore) LLP as a Foreign Law Practice in Singapore to handle our growing international practice in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region and the Global South. TKI will open its first overseas office in Singapore by the end of January 2025.

The opening of our first overseas office in Singapore is a major step forward in our quest to become a “Tokyo-headquartered international firm”. By establishing an office in Singapore, where many of the Asian or Asia-Pacific regional headquarters of Japanese and international companies are located and which is a regional hub for dispute resolution and investments, we will further develop our core cross-border M&A and dispute resolution practices, and grow the inbound practice targeted at international companies entering into or doing business in Japan.

Our Continued Commitment to Clients

In order to accurately identify new legal needs of our clients in response to the changing times, we will continue to fulfil the following missions this year:

• Providing strategic and agile legal services to clients based on our expertise and industry knowledge in highly specialized areas to drive optimal results.
• Proactively analyzing the true needs of our clients and providing practical legal solutions by collaborating with our unique network of more than 200 local law firms in over 50 countries around the world.
• Continuously exceeding our clients' expectations and providing maximum added value to support their business success.

We wish you all a happy and prosperous new year, and look forward to continuing to support your business success in the new year.

New Year’s Day 2025