Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko and former Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko offer video congratulations; Korea Federation of Industries chief Ryu Jin attends
TOKYO — DLA Piper brought together political and business leaders and legal professionals from Japan and abroad at Palace Hotel Tokyo on Oct. 6 for a reception marking the 20th anniversary of its registration as a joint legal practice in Japan.
The reception recognized clients and business partners who have supported the firm’s operations in Japan and the growth of its Tokyo office.
Masahiko Ishida, DLA Piper’s country managing partner and head of corporate in Japan, delivered welcoming remarks.
Loren Brown, the firm’s global vice chair and global head of disputes, gave a congratulatory address. Brown also serves on DLA Piper’s global executive committee.
Taro Honda, a member of Japan’s House of Representatives and former state minister of defense, also delivered congratulatory remarks. Honda chairs the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s National Defense Division. He and Ishida are both University of Tokyo alumni.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and Yoko Kamikawa, a member of the House of Representatives who previously served as Japan’s foreign minister and justice minister, sent congratulatory video messages.
Among the guests from South Korea were Jin Roy Ryu, chairman of Poongsan Group and the Federation of Korean Industries, and Park Young-sun, chair of the Strategic Economic Advisory Group at South Korea’s Ministry of Finance and Economy.
Park attended with her husband, Daniel Lee, DLA Piper’s country managing partner in Korea and head of its Asia-Pacific Korea practice in Tokyo.
The reception also featured kagamibiraki, a traditional Japanese ceremony in which participants open sake barrels with wooden mallets to mark a celebration and express hopes for prosperity.
DLA Piper established its Tokyo office in 2005. The office advises Japanese companies expanding overseas and multinational businesses investing and operating in Japan. Its work spans mergers and acquisitions, investment, corporate governance and dispute resolution.
Ishida is qualified to practice in Japan and New York. His experience includes mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investments, and capital markets transactions. He has also served as outside legal counsel to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
DLA Piper operates in more than 40 countries and reported global revenue of $4.6 billion in 2025, placing it among the world’s largest law firms.
According to the firm, it ranked first in Mergermarket’s global league tables by the number of M&A transactions for 16 consecutive years from 2010 through 2025.
wssong@heraldcorp.com
