Conference Chair
Laurence W. Bates
Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director, 
Chief Legal Officer, 
LIXIL Group Corporation
Larry joined LIXIL Group Corporation on April 1, 2014, as Chief Legal Officer, and in that capacity currently serves as an Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director.  In this role reporting directly to the CEO, he has overall legal and compliance responsibility for the entire group. 

Prior to joining LIXIL Group, Larry worked 22 years at GE, where he served in successive roles as General Counsel of GE Medical Systems Asia based in Tokyo and Hong Kong from 1992 to 1998, of GE Capital Japan in Tokyo from 1998 to 2002, and most recently of GE Japan, from 2002, until his retirement from GE at the end of 2013.  Prior to GE, he also worked with the international law firms of Morrison & Foerster, based in Tokyo, and with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, in New York and Beijing.

He holds a B.A. from Yale University in Chinese Studies and economics, where he graduated summa cum laude, in 1980; and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he graduated cum laude, in 1986, where he also commenced the study of Japanese.  He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.  He taught International Economic Law on the Faculty of Law at Tokyo University under the auspices of a Fulbright Senior Professional Research Grant, in 1990; and was a Yale-China Teaching Fellow in the Department of Foreign Language and Literature at Wuhan University, in Hubei, China, from 1980 to 1982.

Shuichi Namba
Managing Partner At Momo-o, Matsuo & Namba and
Board Director and Chair of Asia Pacific, Interlaw
Shuichi Namba, considered one of Japan’s leading corporate attorneys, co-founded Momo-o, Matsuo & Namba in 1989.  He has extensive experience in dealing with international legal matters. Mr. Namba has particular expertise in various types of transactions between Japanese companies and foreign companies, including joint ventures, licensing agreements and M&A.  In addition, he has handled numerous large-scale commercial litigation and arbitration cases and insolvency-related matters.  He is regularly asked to act as an expert in Japanese law in international legal proceedings.  Mr. Namba currently serves as a Director on the Board of Interlaw, the top-ranked global elite law firm network comprised of top independent law firms around the world.  He has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in Japan in the areas of Corporate and M&A; and Private Equity, Private Funds and Venture Capital.  In addition, Mr. Namba has received “high evaluation” from The Legal 500 Asia Pacific in the category of Corporate and M&A.  

Patrick Marros Chu
Partner
Lee and Li Attorneys at Law
Patrick Chu is a member of the Taiwan Bar Association.  He is an experienced litigation lawyer at Lee and Li, and his main practice areas include dispute resolution, corporate reorganization, bankruptcy, consumer protection, anti-trust law, media/sports law and distribution/franchise contract. Patrick represents many international financial institutions and international companies handling civil actions and advising on many potential disputes and compliance issues for them.  Patrick also assists international TV-content providers and media businesses with regulatory issues and contract reviews. Such extensive experience in handling disputes and litigation and insights from having advised multinational companies in various industries enable Patrick to offer his clients sophisticated legal solutions.  In addition to handling English matters, Patrick worked for Japan Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu Law Firm as a visiting lawyer and is very experienced in Japan related legal affairs and Japanese matters.

Education
Boston University (LL.M., 2005)
National Taipei University (M.L., 1998)
National Taiwan University Law School (LL.B., 1995)

Hsin-Jen, Wang
Attorney
Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law
Hsin-Jen,Wang got his LL.B. degree from National Cheng-chi University and his LL.M. degree from National Cheng-Chi University and Kyoto University, and is qualified for practice in Taiwan as a lawyer and patent attorney.Hsin-Jen,Wang speaks fluent Japanese and he is experienced in Japanese legal matters, he joins the Japanese group of Lee and Li's institute and focuses his practice in corporate investments, tax law, anti-trust law, labor problems, trademarks and copyrights disputes.

Education
Kyoto University (LL.M.,2012)
National Cheng-Chi University (LL.M., 2003)
National Cheng-Chi University (LL.B., 2000)

Steven Howard
Senior Legal Counsel
Sony Mobile Communications Inc
Steven Howard is Senior Legal Counsel with Sony Mobile Communications in Tokyo, with global oversight of marketing, hardware sourcing, quality and privacy/data protection.  Prior to joining the HQ legal team in April he was Sony Mobile’s General Counsel, Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.  He practiced for eight years with a law firm in Tokyo before moving in-house in 2007.  Steven has been a frequent speaker on issues facing in-house legal teams working across multiple jurisdictions in Asia. 

Steven graduated from the University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law, and is a member of the State Bars of Hawaii and California, the International Bar Association, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Tomoyuki Otsuki
Senior Counsel, Trust & Compliance Officer,
Japan IOT Law, Intellectual Property and Compliance
IBM Japan, Ltd.
Tomoyuki Otsuki is Senior Counsel and Trust & Compliance Officer with IBM Japan, Ltd. In Tokyo. His major areas of practice include compliance, corporate investigation, anti-corruption, corporate governance, technology contracts and labour & employment matters. Prior to joining IBM, he was a director at PGM Holdings, and legal counsel at Dell in Japan. He is a frequent speaker on the compliance and other issues domestically and internationally.

He graduated from Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, and is a member of state bars of Washington State, New York and Kentucky, and New York State Bar Association. 

Fumitaka Eshima
Co-Regional General Counsel Asia Pacific, UBS Investment Bank, 
General Counsel Japan, UBS
Fumitaka Eshima is a Managing Director of UBS and its General Counsel Japan.  He also serves as co-Regional General Counsel Asia Pacific for UBS’s Investment Bank division.  He started his professional career at Anderson Mori in Tokyo in 1990, from where he moved to Freshfields in London and Lee & Lee in Singapore, before joining SBC (now UBS) as a Director at its Legal Department in Tokyo in 1996. 

He has experience in a wide range of securities and banking law issues, both transactional and regulatory.  In addition to his responsibilities at UBS, he has external roles such as a Member of Japan’s Capital Market Forum and Deputy President of Japan In-house Lawyers Association.  He is a graduate of Tokyo University and also holds a masters degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.  

Satoshi Funayama
Senior Attorney, Commerical Legal Corporate
External And Legal Affairs
Microsoft Japan, Co., Ltd.
Satoshi Funayama is responsible for legal affairs in Microsoft Japan. 

Recently he has more opportunities to speak about trusted cloud, privacy/security/compliance. He manages commercial legal team doing various legal work in cloud computing, software licensing and support services. Before joining Microsoft in 2004, he practiced law, corporate/family/criminal matters from 1996 at Yamada & Ozaki Law Office in Tokyo. Registered as an attorney in 1996. Holds LL.B. specialized in Japan civil law from Waseda University.

Membership: IP study group in the Daini-Tokyo Bar Association. CIPP for the IAPP. 

Publications (all in Japanese): co-author of “practical issues of cloud computing laws.” New Business Law 976 to 981, May 2012; co-author of “Legal Practice Q&A in New Internet Era.” Kajoshuppan, Oct. 2012; “Recent Trend How to Address Cloud Legal Issues.” Business Law Journal 64, July 2013; co-author of the second edition “Legal Practice Q&A in New Internet Era.” Kajoshuppan, Oct. 2013.

Sanae Matsuo
IPR Legal Manager & Japan lead of Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit,
Corporate, External and Legal Affairs
Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd.
Sanae Matsuo is IPR Legal Manager & Japan lead of Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), as part of Legal & Corporate Affairs department, based in Tokyo.  

Sanae supervises the initiatives and strategies in Japan related to malicious software crimes, cyber-threat intelligence collaboration, trusted cloud, cybercrime & cybersecurity awareness & outreach, intellectual property law and license compliance. She puts her focus on developing legal strategies to fight against diverging IP infringements and she also regularly engages in policy discussions involving, intellectual property rights and cyber security with law enforcement and numerous trade associations and many other. She is a co-chair for the Japan Committee of BSA| The Software Alliance since 2009 and serves as a member of the Board of Association of Copyrights of Computer Software since 2013.    

Sanae joined Microsoft in 1998, starting her Microsoft career working for Asia Pacific Operations and License Marketing. She takes the current role at Legal and Corporate Affairs since 2007.

She holds a LL.B. from Kyoto University. 

Hiroshi Shimazu
General Counsel
Global Brain Corporation
Hiroshi is an entrepreneur-minded legal professional with “best employee” awards at 2 different companies.

Hiroshi was an entrepreneur while studying in law school. After successfully exiting the business, Hiroshi moved to Southern California to became the head of US Legal at Japanese public company. After Hiroshi returned to Japan, he served as APAC Regional Counsel at NASDAQ IT company.

Now, Hiroshi is a General Counsel at Global Brain.

Global Brain is a venture capital firm which globally invests in the high technology startup, from e-commerce and artificial intelligence companies to Robotics companies. Their investment track records include (i) Mercari, Japanese marketplace mobile application, (ii) Hailo, Uber in Europe, (iii) Trillium, automotive cybersecurity startup in Japan, and (iv) August, smart door lock in Silicon Valley.

Hiroshi manages legal and due diligence across the global operation and also helps the portfolio companies with the strategic legal and IP issues.

Akiko Kikuchi
General Counsel
Head of Law, Patents & Compliance
Bayer in Japan
Akiko Kikuchi is the General Counsel and Head of Law, Patents & Compliance for Bayer in Japan.  She serves as an active member of the Country Leadership Team and Pharma Leadership Team working closely with top management of all Bayer companies in Japan.  She also serves as the Head of Data Privacy for Japan since June 2016.  Akiko has a BA in Law from Keio University, and MA in Law from Exeter College, Oxford University, England where she studied as a Jardines Matheson scholar. She is qualified to practice in both England and Wales and Hong Kong SAR, the People’s Republic of China.  Akiko serves on the Executive Board of the Japan In-house Counsel Network and is frequently asked to act as a judge at Asia Legal Business Awards.  She was awarded as an AsiaLaw Leading Lawyer in Corporate Governance in 2012 and 2013.