Japan-Facing Legal Services
Bilateral legal services for Japanese companies in U.S. proceedings, U.S. and European firms with Japan-facing matters, and companies navigating the space between both systems.
Few U.S. litigators can operate in Japanese legal and business culture without an intermediary. York speaks and reads Japanese, has represented Japanese companies in U.S. courts for decades, and has worked hand-in-hand with Japanese counsel in advising U.S. and European clients navigating Japan's legal system — in both directions and in technologies involving the highest levels of complexity.
That capability is not an add-on to the U.S. practice. It is a parallel track built over four decades — through language, relationships, and the accumulated experience of coordinating complex matters across U.S. and Japanese proceedings simultaneously. The services below reflect both tracks operating together.
For U.S. and European Clients
Japan-capable co-counsel working with local Japanese bengoshi and benrishi to fully communicate litigation objectives
U.S. and European companies engaged in patent invalidation trials before the Japan Patent Office, litigation in Japanese district courts, or appeals to the IP High Court frequently face structural deficits that are not easily resolved by translation services or occasional Japan travel. The friction that develops is rarely a pure language problem. It is a strategic and procedural gap — Japanese briefing style, case development rhythm, and decision-making conventions differ from what overseas clients are accustomed to — and without someone who understands both sides of that gap, the relationship between client and Japanese counsel can become less productive than the matter requires.
YMF Law is regularly retained by U.S. and European clients directly to join ongoing Japanese proceedings and help both sides find common ground. That engagement does not displace Japanese counsel, who remain as counsel of record. It adds a lawyer who can translate not just language but strategic intent in both directions: helping the client understand what Japanese counsel is doing and why, and helping Japanese counsel understand what the client actually needs. The engagement is available on a matter-by-matter basis, without institutional conflicts and without any agenda beyond the matter at hand.
Client Assistance with Japanese Counsel
Coordinating between U.S. and European clients and their Japanese attorneys · Bridging legal systems, language, and practice culture
U.S. and European clients engaged in Japanese legal proceedings — patent invalidation trials at the Japan Patent Office, commercial and IP litigation in the Japanese district courts, or appeals before the IP High Court — work through Japanese bengoshi and benrishi who appear as counsel of record. The challenge is not finding competent Japanese counsel. It is ensuring that the strategic direction of the proceedings reflects the overseas client's actual legal position, litigation objectives, and risk tolerance — and that instructions flow clearly in both directions.
YMF Law coordinates directly with Japanese counsel on behalf of the U.S. or European client — in Japanese. That coordination covers strategic briefing of Japanese counsel on U.S. litigation background and objectives, review and discussion of Japanese counsel's strategic recommendations in a form the client can evaluate, translation of procedural developments and court communications in the context of what they mean for the client's position, and the ongoing relationship management that makes complex multi-jurisdictional proceedings run efficiently rather than through accumulated misunderstanding.
Four decades of working in Japan's legal and business environment — speaking the language, knowing how proceedings actually develop, and maintaining working relationships with attorneys across the Japanese IP and litigation bar — is what makes this coordination substantive rather than logistical. The client gets advice from a lawyer who understands both what U.S. litigation requires and how the Japanese legal system actually works.
U.S. Discovery for Japanese Actions
28 U.S.C. § 1782 proceedings · Evidence collection in the U.S. for use in Japanese tribunals
28 U.S.C. § 1782 authorizes U.S. district courts to order discovery — including document production and depositions — for use in proceedings before foreign tribunals. For Japanese companies and their counsel involved in litigation or proceedings in Japan, § 1782 provides a mechanism to obtain evidence located in the United States that is unavailable through Japanese discovery procedures.
YMF Law handles § 1782 applications and proceedings from both postures: on behalf of applicants seeking U.S. evidence for use in Japanese IP, commercial, or regulatory proceedings; and on behalf of U.S. respondents resisting § 1782 subpoenas issued in connection with Japanese actions. The strategic and procedural complexity of these proceedings — including questions of 1782 availability for JPO invalidation proceedings and arbitrations, the "Intel" discretionary factors, and the coordination of U.S. discovery timing with Japanese proceeding schedules — is managed as an integrated part of the overall litigation strategy.
For Japanese parties and their Japanese counsel unfamiliar with U.S. federal discovery procedures, the § 1782 process — from application drafting through enforcement — is managed in direct coordination between the U.S. proceedings and the Japanese matter it supports.
For Japanese Clients
Assisting U.S. counsel for seamless coordination in all procedural and strategic aspects of the case
Japanese companies facing U.S. patent litigation — whether traditional companies with non-lawyer in-house management, or larger organizations with U.S. subsidiaries and U.S. in-house counsel — require senior IP litigation capability paired with genuine Japan fluency. The services below address the most common structural situations: Japanese parent companies whose U.S. entities are already in litigation, and Japanese patent licensors whose interests are represented in name but not in substance by existing U.S. counsel retained and funded by the patent licensee.
Japanese Parent Company Representation
Independent U.S. counsel to the Japanese parent in U.S. litigation involving its subsidiary
When a Japanese parent company's U.S. subsidiary is the named party in U.S. litigation, the parent is jointly represented— but it frequently lacks counsel whose primary focus is assisting and reporting to the parent, especially when the subsidiary directly retains litigation counsel that has no Japan office or prior Japanese experience. The engagement requires no displacement of existing counsel and creates no conflict with the subsidiary's litigation team. It adds assurances that the parent is meaningfully informed and proactive in the U.S. litigation while facilitating the litigation team's access to the parent. The representation also provides guidance to the litigation team in conducting discovery in Japan under its unique procedural rules and in working with local vendors.
Japanese Patent Licensor Representation
Independent U.S. counsel to the Japanese patent licensor whose patents are at issue in U.S. proceedings
In many U.S. patent matters such as Hatch-Waxman pharmaceutical cases, the patents at issue are owned or exclusively licensed by a Japanese company — but U.S. litigation is conducted by counsel retained by and primarily accountable to the U.S. licensee or operating entity. The Japanese licensor has formal representation; it may not have independent representation. The distinction matters most at the moments when the interests of the licensor and the licensee are not perfectly aligned: settlement valuation, claim scope concessions, cross-licensing terms, and decisions that will affect the licensor's patent portfolio and licensing strategy beyond the current dispute.
YMF Law serves as independent U.S. counsel to the Japanese patent licensor — advising directly on U.S. patent litigation strategy, the enforceability and validity risks to the licensor's patents, the royalty and licensing implications of proposed settlement terms, and the downstream portfolio consequences of litigation decisions made in the current matter. That advice is delivered at the level of technical and legal precision that sophisticated patent licensing decisions require.
As with Japanese parent company representation, this engagement does not require displacement of existing U.S. counsel. It adds an independent perspective accountable only to the licensor — from a lawyer who has litigated the full range of Hatch-Waxman, technology, and ITC matters in which Japanese licensors' patent portfolios are routinely at stake.
Discovery & Evidence Coordination for U.S. Cases
Japanese-party discovery · Witness preparation · Document collection and review in Japan
U.S. litigation involving Japanese parties generates a specific set of operational challenges that compound at every stage: document collection from Japanese entities subject to Japanese privacy and data protection frameworks; review of Japanese-language documents requiring legal and technical judgment, not just translation; preparation of Japanese witnesses for U.S.-style depositions in a procedural environment entirely foreign to them; and coordination of deposition logistics under procedures that often require Embassy or Consulate involvement.
YMF Law handles these operational dimensions in coordination with U.S. law firms with active Japan-party matters.
International Arbitration
ICC · JAMS · SIAC · Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA) · U.S.–Japan disputes
International arbitration involving U.S.–Japan disputes — whether IP, commercial, or contractual — draws on the same combination of capabilities that defines the YMF Law practice: U.S. litigation advocacy, Japanese language fluency, and the substantive knowledge of how U.S. and Japanese legal systems approach the same underlying dispute differently. The procedural setting is arbitral rather than judicial; the capabilities required are the same.
YMF Law represents parties in international arbitration proceedings before ICC, JAMS, SIAC, and the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA), in matters arising from IP licensing disputes, technology transfer agreements, joint venture and partnership disagreements, and commercial contracts with U.S.–Japan dimensions. Arbitration party representation is available as lead counsel or as co-counsel to a larger arbitration team — consistent with the flexible engagement model that characterizes the broader practice.
For Japanese parties entering international arbitration for the first time — often an unfamiliar procedural environment even for experienced Japanese litigators — the combination of arbitration practice experience and direct Japanese-language communication reduces the gap between what the Japanese client understands about the proceedings and what its counsel is doing.
Japan-Facing Expertise
Language · Relationships · Cross-border familiarity
Language & Relationships
Japanese language - speaking and reading fluency
Four decades of Japan connection since 1984
Working relationships with Japanese bengoshi and benrishi
Direct relationships with Japanese pharma, tech, and company leads
Familiarity with Japanese corporate culture and decision-making.
Procedural Familiarity
Japan Patent Office (JPO) - patent invalidation proceedings
Tokyo, Osaka & Otsu Dist. Courts - commercial/IP litigation, Letters Rogatory
Japan Intellectual Property High Court - appeals
28 U.S.C. § 1782 proceedings in U.S. federal court for use in Japanese actions
Multi-jurisdictional coordination: U.S., Japan, Europe, Canada, & Australia
York M. Faulkner
Few U.S. litigators can operate comfortably in Japanese legal and business culture without an intermediary. York has represented Japanese companies in U.S. courts for decades, and has worked hand-in-hand with Japanese counsel in advising U.S. and European clients navigating Japan's legal system. Conflict checks and preliminary inquiries are welcomed at no charge.