Freshfields further strengthens its Japan dispute resolution and employment practice with two new partner appointments 

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is pleased to announce the promotion of Akiko Yamakawa and Nicholas Lingard to partners of the firm, effective 1 May 2015.

Akiko has been a member of Freshfields’ Tokyo office since 2000 and is well-known in the Japanese market as a specialist in dispute resolution, employment and labour law, and financial regulatory matters.  She has been instrumental in the development of Freshfields Tokyo’s award-winning employment, pensions and benefits practice, which won the ALB Japan Law Award for ‘Employment Law Firm of the Year’ back-to-back in 2013 and 2014.  In addition to her employment and domestic disputes experience, Akiko is also a key member of the firm’s globally-renowned international arbitration group, recently working with Nicholas advising a consortium of Japanese trading and chemical companies on a billion dollar potential ICSID arbitration relating to the termination of a hydroelectric and aluminium project in Indonesia.

Nicholas is a member of our world leading international arbitration practice. He joined Freshfields New York office in 2011 before moving to Tokyo in 2012 and now divides his time between Tokyo and Singapore.  Since relocating to Asia, Nicholas has advised on many groundbreaking arbitrations including recently advising a Japanese energy company in a potential treaty claim against a Spanish-speaking State relating to its investments in the renewable energy sector, advising a leading Japanese technology firm in an ICC arbitration concerning the supply of software to a national police force and advising a Japanese trading house in an ICC arbitration concerning commodity supplies to China.

Commenting on the promotion of Akiko and Nicholas, Head of Freshfields’ Japan Dispute Resolution practice, Kazuki Okada, said, “I am absolutely thrilled with Akiko and Nicholas’ election as partners. They have been strong assets to the Freshfields Tokyo team, gaining the admiration of clients and colleagues alike. I look forward to working further with them in increasing the profile of our disputes practice in the region”.

Admitted as a Japanese bengoshi in 1999, Akiko is a member of the Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association and the New York Bar.  She was educated at the University of Tokyo (LLB, 1997) and the Legal Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan. She completed an LL.M at Harvard Law School in 2003 and speaks Japanese and English.

A former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Australia, the Honourable A.M. Gleeson AC, Nicholas was educated at the University of Queensland, where he graduated at the top of his class in law and Japanese, and Harvard Law School, where he was a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow. He is admitted to practise in New York and New South Wales, Australia and speaks English and Japanese.

Source: Freshfields

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