Top Japanese law firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu and international heavyweight Baker McKenzie (Gaikokuho Joint Enterprise) lead the private practice firms in terms of numbers of nominations for the ALB Japan Law Awards 2017. Both firms have 13 nominations, covering the firm and individual award categories (but excluding deals).
In second place is Atsumi & Sakai with 12 nominations. The other Big Four law firms follow closely, with Mori Hamada & Matsumoto at 11 nominations, Nishimura & Asahi at 10 nominations and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune (winner of the Japan Law Firm of the Year award in 2016) at six nominations. International firms Morrison & Foerster and Herbert Smith Freehills round out the leading firms with six nominations each.
The ALB Japan Law Awards 2017 will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo on June 7. This year’s awards ceremony will be the thirteenth year of celebrating Japan’s resilient and promising legal market. In recognition of this market and developments in the market, Asian Legal Business will be handing out 34 awards at the ceremony – introducing new awards such as Woman Lawyer of the Year, M&A Deal of the Year (Midsize/Premium), Boutique Law Firm of the Year and Projects, Energy and Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year.
Asian Legal Business is delighted to welcome the top private practice firms, as well as new participants in the Boutique Law Firm award category. On the in-house side, the Technology, Media and Telecommunications In-House Team award sees 7 finalists, past and new participants vying for this award – including teams from SoftBank, Microsoft, IBM and Micron Technology.
“With important developments and growth taking place in Japan’s legal sector, Asian Legal Business recognizes the great legal work undertaken in Japan over the past year. The ALB Japan Law Awards are the pre-eminent legal awards not only in Japan but across Asia; and we thank all the finalists for participating and wish them the best of luck,” said Amantha Chia, head of Thomson Reuters’ Legal Media Business.