TMI Associates

TMI Associates
HeadquartersMinato, Tokyo, Japan
No. of offices14
No. of attorneys536 (Sept. 2019)[1]
No. of employees917 (Sept. 2019)[1]
Major practice areasGeneral practice
Date foundedOctober 1, 1990
Company typePartnership under Japanese law
Websitehttps://www.tmi.gr.jp/

TMI Associates (TMI総合法律事務所, TMI Sōgō Hōritsu Jimusho) is one of the five largest law firms in Japan.

The firm was founded in 1990 by ten intellectual property specialists who left the law firm of Nishimura & Partners. It grew quickly in ensuing years, with 33 attorneys as of 1998 and more than 600 domestic and foreign attorneys and patent attorneys as of 2020. https://www.tmi.gr.jp/about/organization.html[2]

TMI is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its other offices in Japan include Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto and Fukuoka and the firm also has offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Phnom Penh, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore and Yangon.[3] It opened its first domestic branch office in Nagoya in 2012.[4] It was the first Japanese law firm to open an office in Myanmar.[5] TMI opened an Osaka office in 2018 by acquiring the four-lawyer practice of Isamu Omizu, a former vice chairman of the Osaka Bar Association.[6]

The firm has joint ventures with the American law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, the British law firm of Simmons & Simmons and the German law firm of ARQIS Rechtsanwälte. The Simmons & Simmons venture, begun in 2001, was the first registered joint venture between a major Japanese law firm and an international law firm under the attorney at foreign law system.[2][7] TMI's Singapore office is also shared with Simmons & Simmons.[8]

Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, location of TMI's main office in Tokyo

The firm is particularly known for its intellectual property practice, being ranked one of the top 3 trademark firms in Japan by World Trademark Review[9] and winning the "Best Japanese IP Firm 2013" award at the International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards.[10] In 2010, the firm hired a former head of the Intellectual Property High Court as an advisor.[11]

Chambers & Partners ranks TMI in the areas of Banking & Finance, Competition/Antitrust, Corporate/M&A, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Intellectual Property, International Trade, Life Science, Projects & Energy and Real Estate.[12]

  1. ^ a b 416Japanese attorneys at law, 37 foreign attorneys and 83 patent attorneys and 1 foreign patent attorney. "組織構成". Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b Chan, Kay-Wah (2005). "Foreign Law Firms: Implications for Professional Legal Education in Japan" (PDF). Journal of Japanese Law (20): 56–79. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  3. ^ "拠点一覧 | Our Firm".
  4. ^ "Tmi総合法律事務所".
  5. ^ "ＴＭＩ、ミャンマーに弁護士事務所 日系進出に対応". 日本経済新聞. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  6. ^ "ＴＭＩ総合が大阪に拠点開設 別事務所を衣替え". www.nikkei.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  7. ^ "TMI Associates secures third JV". asia.legalbusinessonline.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-29.
  8. ^ "Simmons & Simmons to open shop in Singapore". Managing Partner. 10 May 2013. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  9. ^ "Japan". World Trademark Review. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  10. ^ "Winners 2013". ILA Summit. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  11. ^ "ＴＭＩ総合法律事務所、知財高裁所長ら顧問に迎え入れ". 日本経済新聞. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  12. ^ "TMI Associates, Asia-Pacific | Chambers Profiles". Chambers. Retrieved 2022-03-15.