Press Release

Award-winning Japanese law firm Atsumi & Sakai is pleased to announce the establishment of an office in New York (Formal name: Atsumi & Sakai New York LLP), which will enable the firm to provide more convenient legal services in North and South America. The New York office will be led by Bonnie L. Dixon, a veteran partner of the firm and the first non-Japanese lawyer to be a partner of a Japanese law firm in the post-war era.

As the only Japanese law firm with offices in London and New York, an affiliated office in Frankfurt and an affiliated law firm in Vietnam, we cover all time zones and provide legal services literally 24 hours a day.
Atsumi & Sakai is a rare example of legal diversity in Japan, employing registered foreign lawyers and other foreign lawyers from 10 jurisdictions (including New York and other U.S. states, the U.K., the State of Queensland, Australia, Germany, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, and other jurisdictions.).

Bonnie L. Dixon, a lawyer admitted in New York, will serve as managing partner of our New York office, and Rikiya Okuhara, a lawyer admitted in Japan and New York, will serve as vice managing partner of the New York office. After practicing law as a partner at the New York offices of leading U.S. law firms, Ms. Dixon returned to Japan in 2002 and joined Atsumi & Sakai in 2005. Ms. Dixon serves clients in cross-border transactions and dispute resolution matters. Ms. Dixon will divide her time between the New York office and our Tokyo office in order to meet the needs of her diverse client base. Mr. Okuhara has extensive experience in international matters, including dispute resolution. Mr. Okuhara will be stationed full time in New York.

Hiroo Atsumi, managing partner of the Tokyo office, declares “Our expansion to New York is a natural move for our firm, the first major Japanese law firm to establish a partnership jointly with non-Japanese attorneys. We are committed to assisting our international clients with the development of their businesses in Japan and assisting our Japanese clients with the resolution of their legal issues in the North American and South American continents. We are proud that the managing partner of our New York office will be an American woman.”

New York managing partner Bonnie Dixon adds: “Our New York office will support our clients’ cross-border transactions, disputes and regulatory matters. The office primarily will advise on Japanese law supported by our teams in Tokyo, London and elsewhere, all in cooperation with top local US law firms that have supported us and our clients so far.”

Ms. Dixon is representative of our firm’s commitment to gender and racial diversity. We have the highest gender diversity among the largest law firms in Japan, for which our firm has won numerous awards.

We believe that our New York office will open a local advisory base close to the headquarters of many of our offshore clients and will contribute to the revitalization of the Japanese market.

Our New York office aims to provide our clients with more efficient legal services from the perspective of both outbound and inbound services, as well as to further strengthen or streamline our collaboration with local law firms and other experts.

Practice Areas:
Cross-border M&A, transactions, joint ventures, business configuration, including corporate governance and employment matters, project finance, compliance with antitrust and competition laws, banking and finance, real estate transactions, intellectual property rights, dispute resolution (litigation and arbitration), etc.

Representative Attorneys:
Bonnie L. Dixon
Lawyer admitted in New York
Registered Foreign Lawyer (The laws of the State of New York and the Federal laws of the United States)
Tokyo Office Partner/New York Office Managing Partner
New York State Bar Association
Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association

Rikiya Okuhara
Lawyer admitted in Japan and New York
Tokyo Office Partner/New York Office Vice Managing Partner
New York State Bar Association
Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association

* Attorneys associated with the New York office will telework from Tokyo while observing the progress of the Novel Coronavirus infection. We will provide services for the time being by working from home and using web conferencing systems.

For information contact us at: [email protected]