Ken is managing partner of the Tokyo office of Morrison & Foerster and head of the office’s 50 lawyer M&A team. His practice focuses on the representation of high-technology companies in acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.
Ken is consistently ranked as one of the leading U.S. lawyers in Japan. Among other notable accomplishments, he is the only lawyer to be ranked as a “Star Individual” for M&A in Japan (the level above Band 1) by Chambers Global for eleven consecutive years (2011 – 2021 editions); he was also ranked in the Band 1 category for the prior decade.
Ken has spent his entire career with MoFo and has practiced in Japan for over 25 years, serving as our Tokyo managing partner for the last 20 years.
Ken has appeared on CNBC and PBS’s Nightly Business Report in their coverage of Japanese legal developments, as well as on the cover of The American Lawyer in its survey of global law firms. He was also recognized by The American Lawyer as “Dealmaker of the Week” for his work on SoftBank’s $21.6 billion acquisition of Sprint, a transaction that was named the Global M&A Deal of the Year by The American Lawyer and also for his work on Hitachi’s $5 billion sale of its hard disk drive business to Western Digital.
Ken’s recent notable awards include:
- Star Individual for Japan: Corporate/M&A (Chambers Global 2021)
- Star Individual for Japan: Corporate/M&A (Chambers Asia-Pacific 2021)
- Hall of Fame for Japan: Corporate and M&A (The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021)
- Market Leader for Japan: M&A (IFLR1000 2020)
- Corporate, M&A Law, Private Equity, Private Funds and Venture Capital Law [The Best Lawyers in Japan (Recognized since 2009)]
- Foreign Lawyer of the Year (Asian Legal Business (ALB) Japan Law Awards 2018)
- Tokyo Managing Partner of the Year (Asian Legal Business (ALB) Japan Law Awards 2017)