Hiroyuki Tezuka is a Japanese lawyer and member partner of Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo, where he heads the firm's international dispute resolution practice. He is known for international litigation and arbitration, and he is a member of the Japanese and New York bars. He has also served on the SIAC and ICC courts of arbitration and has written on Japanese and international commercial law.
Education
Tezuka received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tokyo in 1984. Founded in 1877, the university became Japan's first imperial university and a leading center for training officials and jurists during the modernization of the Japanese state.
He also completed training at the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan. The institute was established in May 1947 as a training facility affiliated with the Supreme Court, and it provides research and training for judges as well as training for legal apprentices, a stage that candidates for the Japanese bar complete after passing the national examination.
Tezuka earned a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1992. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is one of the oldest law schools in the United States.
Tezuka was admitted to the Japanese bar in 1986 and became a member of the New York bar in 1993. From 1992 to 1993 he worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York, a law firm whose practice included international transactions and litigation.
From 2003 to 2005 he served as coordinator of the Legislative Council of Japan's Ministry of Justice for the modernisation of private international law. The ministry is the government department responsible for Japan's legal system, including the drafting of civil and commercial legislation.
He is a member partner of Nishimura & Partners, the Tokyo firm that Toshiro Nishimura established as Nishimura Law Office in 1966. In 2007 the firm integrated with the international division of Asahi Law Offices to form Nishimura & Asahi, which is now one of Japan's largest international law firms. Tezuka heads the firm's international dispute resolution practice, which has handled M&A, licensing, construction and intellectual property disputes.
From 2013 to 2016 he taught international arbitration and international dispute resolution at the University of Tokyo School of Law as a visiting professor. He has acted as counsel and arbitrator in international cases under the rules of the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association, the International Chamber of Commerce and the American Arbitration Association.
In January 2023 he was appointed Chief Director of the Japan International Mediation Center in Kyoto. In the same year he was reappointed a member of the Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. From 2016 to 2020 he was co-chair of the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, and he has also served as vice chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association's Legal Practice Division.
Works
journal article
Recent Developments in United States Shareholders Derivative Suits and Derivative Actions in Japan
(Article in the Japanese commercial law periodical Shoji H...)
1993
Rescue of Subsidiaries and Directors' Liabilities
(Article in Bessatsu Shoji Homu (No. 172) on the rescue of...)
1995
Exercise of Shareholders' Rights by Foreign Shareholders at Shareholders Meetings and Practical Reactions by Companies
(Article in Shoji Homu (No. 1354) on how foreign sharehold...)
1994
Legal Issues in Shareholders Derivative Actions Against Directors of Sankyo Manufacturing
(Article in Shoji Homu (No. 1160) on shareholder derivativ...)
1989
The Nature and Legal Functions of Punitive Damages Awards in Various States in the United States and Their Enforceability in Japan
(Article in Jurist (No. 1020) examining punitive damages a...)
1993
legal reference book
Complete Legal Forms Annotated, Volume 29: International Civil Litigation
(Volume published by Sanseido in which Tezuka worked as co...)
1994
Membership
Tezuka's arbitration memberships are based in institutions that administer or support international dispute resolution. The Japan Association of Arbitrators brings together arbitrators in Japan, and its vice presidency is one of his current roles. The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board is an arbitration institution in South Korea, and Tezuka sits on its International Arbitration Committee.
The Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce oversee arbitrations under their institutional rules. The International Bar Association, founded in 1947, is a global organization of lawyers and bar associations, and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association is a regional lawyers' association in the Asia-Pacific region. The ICC Institute of World Business Law is a research body associated with the International Chamber of Commerce, on whose council Tezuka served until 2025.
Vice President
Japan Association of Arbitrators
,
Japan
Member of the Court of Arbitration (reappointed)
Singapore International Arbitration Centre
Member
International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce
Member of the International Arbitration Committee
Korean Commercial Arbitration Board
Vice Chair of the Arbitration Committee, Legal Practice Division
International Bar Association
Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee
IAM author profile: Hiroyuki Tezuka
Biographical profile covering his education, his Ministry of Justice coordinator role and his litigation and arbitration practice.
