Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected guide to the legal profession globally, is pleased to announce the release of the 13th edition of The Best Lawyers in Japan™ and the inaugural Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan™.
Best Lawyers lists have used a Purely Peer Review™ methodology for more than 40 years and are the preeminent guide to the legal profession. The methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
A lawyer can be nominated for the traditional Best Lawyers recognition or Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch awards, but they cannot be nominated for recognition in both publications at the same time. Lawyers who are nominated for consideration are voted on by currently recognized Best Lawyers working in the same practice area and located in the same geographic region. Our awards and recognitions are based purely on the feedback we receive from these top lawyers. Lawyers are not required nor allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Those who receive high peer reviews undergo a thorough verification process to make sure they are currently still in private practice. Only then can Best Lawyers recognize these top lawyers.
The 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in Japan recognizes the professional excellence of 1,575 lawyers in 45 practice areas and the inaugural edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan recognizes 263 honorees across 26 practice areas.
Publication Statistics for The Best Lawyers in Japan:
- 1,575 Listed Lawyers
- 45 Practice Areas
- 48 “Lawyer of the Year” Awards
- 12 “Law Firm of the Year” Awards
- 2 Metropolitan Areas
- Tokyo is the Metropolitan Area with the Most Listed Lawyers
Top 10 practice areas by number of recognized lawyers in The Best Lawyers in Japan:
- Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- Litigation
- Banking and Finance Law
- Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice
- Real Estate Law
- Antitrust / Competition Law
- Capital Markets Law
- International Business Transactions
Top 10 most searched practice areas in Japan in 2021 on bestlawyers.com:
- Intellectual Property Law
- Real Estate Law
- Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Litigation
- Banking and Finance Law
- Labor and Employment Law
- Capital Markets Law
- International Business Transactions
- Criminal Defense
- Arbitration and Mediation
Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan awards are presented to attorneys who are earlier in their careers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice. These recipients typically have been in practice for 3-8 years, whereas the honorees recognized in The Best Lawyers in Japan have on average been in practice for more than nine years. The methodology for determining these new awards remains the same as our traditional lists: peer-review. Lawyers are the best resource to provide feedback on the caliber of work performed by their peers.
Publication Statistics for Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan:
- 263 Listed Lawyers
- 44 Firms with Listed Lawyers
- 26 Practice Areas
- 2 Metropolitan Areas
- Tokyo is the Metropolitan Area with the Most Listed Lawyers
Top Five practice areas by number of recognized lawyers in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan:
- Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Arbitration and Mediation
- Capital Markets Law
- Intellectual Property Law (Non-Patent)
- Litigation
In addition to historic individual lawyer recognition, 48 lawyers were recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” honorees and nine firms received a “Law Firm of the Year” award in 12 practice areas. “Lawyer of the Year” awards are bestowed to only lawyers with the highest overall peer-feedback for a specific practice area and geographic region. “Law Firm of the Year” awards are country and practice area specific. They are determined based on a handful of factors, including feedback from lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers on individual lawyer and firm-wide work, the size and coverage of the firm in a specific practice area, historical analysis of the firm’s “Lawyer of the Year” awards in this area and research surrounding the firm’s overall scope and areas of expertise.
“Law Firm of the Year” Honorees:
- Abe, Ikubo & Katayama - Intellectual Property Law
- Anderson Mori & Tomotsune - Real Estate Law
- Hibiya Sogo Law Offices - Antitrust / Competition Law
- Linklaters - Capital Markets Law
- Mori Hamada & Matsumoto - Banking and Finance Law, Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Morrison & Foerster - Private Equity, Private Funds and Venture Capital Law
- Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu - Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Nishimura & Asahi – Litigation, Tax Law
- TMI Associates - Labor and Employment Law, Media and Entertainment Law
Interested in seeing Best Lawyers honorees in Japan? Use our Find a Lawyer in Japan tool to search by location and specialty. You can also use our Find a Lawyer page to search for lawyers in other countries and practice areas.
