Asia Legal Update Third Quarter 2024 (July - September)

She previously lived in Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore and is fluent in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay. She has extensive experience and local expertise to advise clients from both legal and practical perspective.

She was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in 2013 and is the managing partner of our strategic alliance firm in Malaysia, WM Leong & Co. She is also a partner at Nishimura & Asahi (Singapore) LLP.

Michelle’s practice covers advising on various M&A and joint venture transactions across a large range of industries including IT, manufacturing, finance, real estate, retail trade, and energy. She also regularly advises clients on other corporate and commercial matters such as licensing, doing business, labour, data privacy and protection, and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining N&A, Michelle was a lawyer with one of the top law firms in the Philippines. Through her experience, she gives clients invaluable insights into Philippine culture and enhances their understanding of the legal and commercial practices in the country, making clients better equipped to do business in the Philippines.

Bayfront Law is Nishimura & Asahi Singapore Office’s counterpart in the Nishimura & Asahi - Bayfront Law Alliance, which is based on Singapore law.

Bayfront Law is Nishimura & Asahi Singapore Office’s counterpart in the Nishimura & Asahi - Bayfront Law Alliance, which is based on Singapore law.

He advises on a wide range of merger-and-acquisition transactions, joint ventures, foreign direct investments, general corporate, international corporate finance, and restructurings. His expertise is advising, structuring and leading complex transactions both within and outside of Thailand. He regularly represents, among others, Japanese, Thai and international investors, international investment banks, international private equity investors, hedge funds and international corporations and financial institutions. His main areas of practice include public and private mergers and acquisitions (takeover rules), legal due diligence, joint ventures, fund raising, listings, block trades, stock exchange and securities exchange related laws, restructuring of shareholdings and general corporate advice. His additional areas of practice also cover banking and finance, renewable energy in Japan and Thailand, exchange control law, labor law, and debt restructurings. Before setting up the Bangkok office of Nishimura & Asahi in 2013, he worked with Linklaters for almost a decade. He is also a registered arbitrator of the Thai Arbitration Institute (TAI) with the areas of expertise in corporate M&A, joint venture, banking and finance, capital markets, debt restructurings and energy.

Apinya’s extensive practice covers a wide array of matters ranging from business set-up, domestic and cross-border transactions to day-to-day business operations, to name a few. Her clientele includes both local and international conglomerates, trading companies, aircraft operators, real estate developers, petroleum and energy companies, financial institutions, securities companies, venture capitalists, and fund managers. Well-read and a holder of law degrees from three different jurisdictions - Thailand, the United States and Japan, Apinya is able to leverage her international experience and cultural insights to effectively and efficiently resolve complex cross-border legal issues and provide tailored legal services and solutions to her clients. In addition to being a practicing lawyer, Apinya is regularly invited to teach business law at various prestigious universities in Thailand, and serves as a counsellor to the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives of Thailand for consideration of amendments to the Civil and Commercial Code. Her other notable achievements include being registered as a Barrister-at-Law, Attorney-at-Law, and Notarial Services Attorney in Thailand.

Bang is a partner with more than 20 years of legal professional experience. He joined  the Ho Chi Minh City Office in 2010, as the first Vietnamese lawyer to join Nishimura & Asahi,offering his experience in a variety of matters, including a diverse selection of notable, complex projects and disputes. Bang specializes in dispute resolution, inbound investments, corporate & commercial matters, M&A, banking, real estate property & construction, and labor. He also has significant experience in providing advice regarding international trade, unfair competition, securities, capital market transactions, project financing transactions, infrastructure projects, and energy projects. Prior to joining the firm, Bang gained advisory experience in both law firm environments and  multinational corporations. He has been a regular contributor to numerous law-related magazines, and has actively participated in the training of law students and legal practitioners, having been a part-time lecturer in Vietnam since 2009. Additionally, Bang is invited as recurring speaker at the seminars and events organized by reputable legal profession related institutions and organizations.

Bang is a 2001 graduate of Hanoi University of Law , and received an LL.M. in international law from the Transnational Law & Business University in Seoul, Korea in 2006, supplementing with an additional LL.M. in U.S. law from Antonin Scalia Law School George Mason University in Virginia in 2024. He is also pursuing a Ph.D. in international law at Charisma University School of Law and a Ph.D. in criminal justice at Liberty University - Helms School of Government in the U.S. 

Chambers and Partners has recognized Bang as a leading lawyer  in M&A and Real Estate. He is a listed arbitrator of several institutions including the Vietnam Lawyers' Commercial Arbitration Center, and a member of the Ho Chi Minh Bar and the Vietnam Bar Federation. He is fluent in both English and Vietnamese.

Huong started her career at leading local and regional law firms with diversified national and international practices. In 2009, Huong began pursuing a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne, and after doing so, continued her legal career at a number of law firms. Her areas of expertise include M&A transactions, labor law, corporate law, real estate transactions, restructuring and insolvency, and compliance. Huong often advises clients on cross-border M&A deals in relation to real estate, banking and finance, services, and manufacturing. She also regularly supports clients in regard to the formation and registration of internal labor regulations, dealing with labor disputes, labor contract performance, and retrenchment. In addition, Huong assists clients with the incorporation, operation, restructuring, and termination of their businesses in Vietnam, including with respect to day-to-day commercial business, corporate governance, and compliance. In these areas, clients value her extensive experience and detailed knowledge of local laws and culture, as well as her timely, responsive, and effective support.

Taeko heads the firm’s India practice, and advises Japanese corporations investing and doing business in India, with a special focus on dispute resolution (litigation and arbitration), and regulatory work (criminal and competition related matters). She also handles jurisdictions such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, and other countries in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

He represents various listing companies including a large cell phone motherboard manufacturer, a beverage company and large panel company in Taiwan. He is the legal advisor for the Taipei branch of a major Japanese bank. He has participated in research projects for government entities and in the drafting of legislative bills, including: the Research project launched by the Banking Bureau of Financial Supervisory Committee, “Study on the Types of Merger and Acquisition of Financial Institutions” (October 2007) and the Research project launched by Council for Economic Planning and Development of the Executive Yuan, “Research on Codification of Corporate Reorganization and Insolvency” (March 2005).

He has more than ten years of experience handling a wide variety of asset finance transactions, including vessel/aircraft leasing, fund/asset management matters, including those involving private equity funds, investment trusts, ETFs, and other domestic and international finance matters. Based on the practical experience he gained during a year-long secondment in Hong Kong, he serves as a member of our firm’s Hong Kong practice team, and provides legal advice to Japanese companies doing business in Hong Kong.

As an attorney belonging to a Japanese law firm, Masao is the only long-term resident attorney in the Middle East. From Dubai, a hub in the MENA region, he covers a broad area including the Gulf countries, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, etc.
 
 Masao frequently deals with legal issues inherent to the Middle East, such as commercial agency laws, foreign investment restrictions, and economic sanctions, and has been involved in numerous Middle-East-related seminars and articles.
 
 In the Middle East, where divergences between laws and practices are a frequent issue, he is able to provide practical advice that goes beyond a mere understanding of the contents of applicable laws, drawing on his diverse range of experience and personal connections in the region.
 
 Masao has close relationships with major law firms in each country and coordinates with such firms in an appropriate and timely manner, including controlling attorneys’ fees.
 
 He has also been involved in infrastructure projects worldwide, including at a Japanese investment and trading company and a UK law firm to which he was seconded.

Since December 2020, Akihiro has been stationed in Dubai, the UAE, providing legal support to Japanese companies doing business in the Middle East and Africa in the areas of joint ventures, agency law, labor law, personal data protection law, and other general corporate matters. He also provides timely updates on new and amended legislation in the Middle East and draws upon his practical experience to advise clients. His experience includes handling numerous infrastructure projects in the Middle East and Africa, having been seconded to the overseas business development base of a Japanese trading and investment company. He also excels in providing legal support from a financial perspective, as he has provided support for many project financing matters in fields such as real estate and renewable energy. Recently, his practice has extended to the area of sustainable finance as well.

By leveraging his experience abroad and his secondment to a trading company in Japan, Hiroki Kaga has experience in complex cross-border transactions. His strength is the knowledge and experience of cutting-edge practices in the M&A, start-up and private equity area.

Varsha Bhattacharya is an India and New York qualified lawyer with over ten years’ experience with India and South Asia-focused deals. She has advised on cross-border and domestic M&A, structuring exercises - including fund formation, private equity entries and exits, tax implications of cross-border transactional arrangements, and on estate planning. She has also advised and represented clients in tax disputes before various forums in India, ranging from representations before tax officers to the Supreme Court of India.

She completed her B.A., LL.B. (Hons) from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, and her LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

Akihiro has extensive experience in advising companies in various sectors on compliance with the GDPR in Europe, the CCPA in California, USA, personal data protection legislation in Asian countries (including China, India, and Thailand), and personal information protection laws in Japan. He also has expertise advising on laws and regulations related to cutting-edge data utilization businesses in the automotive industry, including driver assistance technology, mobility businesses, and IoT, as well as global data protection laws related to the development of online services for the public at large. Most recently, he has been working on areas related to European digital policy, including the EU AI Act. He has also worked for a leading Indian law firm and has been involved in a wide range of legal matters in India, such as those concerning the entry of Japanese companies into the Indian market, investments, and compliance with local laws and regulations.

In addition to seven years' experience in Vietnam, Taro also has experience in working as in-house counsel for a major trading company. He has strong expertise in cross-border M&A/joint ventures, real estate development, labor, compliance, crisis management deals, and international transactions. In recent years, the scope of his work has expanded to include Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries. He is also a member of the Agrifood Practice Team.

Having worked as a partner in a prestigious law firm in China for about 3 years, in September 2010, Cuiping decided to come to Japan and work as one of the leaders of our China Practice Team, so as to take a step closer to her clients willing to expand their business globally and to help resolve their foreign legal issues more timely and actively. As an international lawyer specialized in the legal and business practice of both China and Japan, she has participated in plenty of investment and M&A projects between China and Japan using her fluent Chinese and Japanese. She also helps her clients to expand their business both domestically and globally using her strong social network established via numerous cross-border projects. Besides general corporate practice and corporate governance, she also devotes herself to cutting-edge legal issues such as the protection of data or personal information, presents creative resolutions to her clients, and provides them with continuous support on their overseas business. She also brings the latest legal news regarding China and Japan to her clients proactively not only by publishing articles, but also by attending multiple business seminars as a speaker.