Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu was triumphant at the ALB Japan Law Awards 2017, emerging as the Japan Law Firm of the Year as well as the Japan Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year, Litigation Law Firm of the Year, Real Estate Law Firm of the Year and Regulatory and Compliance Law Firm of the Year. It also scooped up three gongs under the deals category. 

Another Big Four firm, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, collected five deal awards and was hailed as the Banking and Financial Services Law Firm of the Year, Japan Deal Firm of the Year, SE Asia Practice Law Firm of the Year and Tax and Trusts Law Firm of the Year. 

Baker McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise) also had a good night, winning the International Deal Firm of the Year and three deal awards. 

Held at the Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo on June 7, the annual event – now on its 13th year – launched new categories such as Woman Lawyer of the Year, awarded to Setsuko Yufu of Atsumi & Sakai; Boutique Law Firm of the Year, brought home by KUBOTA; and Projects, Energy and Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year, won by White & Case. 

For the individual categories, Ken Siegel of Morrison & Foerster was honoured as the Managing Partner of the Year while Sullivan & Cromwell’s Izumi Akai was selected as Dealmaker of the Year. Kenji Tagaya of JERA Co was chosen as In-House Lawyer of the Year. 

Winners for the in-house categories included IBM Japan, which bagged two gongs: Japan In-House Team of the Year and Technology, Media and Telecommunications In-House Team of the Year. Nissan Motor Corporation was named the Innovative In-House Team of the Year, while Citigroup Japan picked up the Banking and Financial Services In-House Team of the Year award.  

For the full list of winners, please click HERE.