Tokyo Japan
Hirohide Nakagawa
Attoney at Law | Kyoto Bar Association, Registration No. 45484
About
Hirohide Nakagawa is the founder and Managing Partner of Tokyo Startup Law Firm.
Admitted to the Tokyo Bar Association in 2011, he opened the firm in September 2018 and has built it into a practice of around 50 lawyers across 29 offices in Japan.
He has made Global one of the firm's three strategic pillars, alongside For Client and Al-Native. The International Business Desk is an expression of that commitment rather than an adjunct to it. He has also built and run businesses of his own, including software development, and it shapes how he advises. His first question is rarely whether something is permitted, but whether it will work commercially and hold up over time — which is usually what a company entering a new market needs to know. Clients arriving from abroad often expect a lawyer who lists obstacles; his aim is to hand back a route.
The firm's stated ambition is to update Japan. For a company coming in from outside, that means a bench deep enough to follow it wherever in the country it lands, and counsel willing to engage with the commercial decision and not only the legal one.
Born in Kyoto and educated at Doshisha University. He works in Japanese and English.
Experience
2018 - present Founder & Managing Partner, Tokyo Startup Law Firm (Legal Professional Corporation), Tokyo
2018 - present Established and oversees the firm's International Business Desk, supporting foreign companies entering and operating in Japan
2011 Admitted to the bar Tokyo Bar Association (Registration No 45484)
Education
LL.M., Graduate School of Law, Doshisha University
LL.B., Faculty of Law, Doshisha University