The main focus of Masafumi Kodama’s practice is international dispute resolution, including litigation, arbitration, and mediation. He also counsels clients on, and represents clients in, negotiations for the prevention or soft-landing of disputes by handling matters such as the preparation and negotiation of international agreements, debt collection, bankruptcy, and withdrawal of overseas offices. As international disputes are often inclined to become complicated, prolonged, and costly, Mr. Kodama strives to offer the most appropriate resolution for each case by listening intensely to clients’ needs in terms of cost, time, consequences, reputation, and other factors. As a council of the Japan Association of Arbitrators and Executive Director of the Japan International Dispute Resolution Center, Mr. Kodama also promotes international arbitration in and outside Japan by frequently delivering lectures to attorneys and businesspersons, writing books and articles, and teaching and guiding law students in moot arbitration competitions.

Work Highlights

International Dispute Resolution

• International Arbitration in Singapore
• Lawsuits against a Global Pharmaceutical Company
• International Arbitration in Singapore
• Arbitrator in an Emergency Arbitration Case
• International Arbitration in New York
• JCAA Arbitration in Tokyo concerning the Development of an Online Game
• Arbitrator in an International Arbitration Case in Osaka

Bankruptcy and Business Restructuring

• Legal Reorganization and Share Transfer concerning a Chinese Subsidiary
• Court Appointed Trustee for the Corporate Reorganization Proceedings of a Company Engaged in the Civil Engineering Construction and Heavy Machinery Business

Others

• Establishment of a Joint Venture Company with a Singaporean Company
• Resona Holdings, Inc.’s Acquisition of 100% of the Ownership of Kansai Mirai Financial Group

Major Issues in Dispute Handled in Arbitration Proceedings

• Binding effect of arbitration agreement for non-signatories
• Res Judicata of arbitral awards
• Grounds for rescission of arbitral awards
• Expedited procedures and emergency arbitration
• Noncompliance with multi-tiered dispute resolution clause
• Integration of dispute resolution clause by an entire agreement clause in the later-concluded agreement
• Standing as a party to arbitration by subrogation

Education & Professional Career

2007 – Present	Kitahama Partners, Representative Partner
2001 – Present	Kitahama Partners, Partner
1999	Admitted to practice in the State of New York
1998 – 1999	Foreign Associate with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (formerly Winthrop Stimson, Putnam & Roberts), at its New York Office and Singapore Office
1998	Cornell Law School (LL.M.)
1993	Graduated from the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan; Admitted to practice in Japan; Joined Kitahama Partners
1990	The University of Tokyo (LL.B.)

Other Activities

Dec 2019 – Present	Executive Director, Japan International Dispute Resolution Center
2018 – Present	Deputy Secretary General, Japan International Dispute Resolution Center
2016 – 2018	Committee Coordinator, Inter-Pacific Bar Association
2015 – 2023	Outside Director (Audit and Supervisory Committee Member), The Nihon Seima Co., LTD.
2012 – Present	Council, The Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law
2011 – Present	Council, Japan Association of Arbitrators
2010 – Present	Independent Committee Member, Sansei Co., Ltd. (Published Recommendation in December 2020)
2008 – 2015	Outside Auditor, The Nihon Seima Co., LTD.
2008 – 2011	Outside Auditor, ELK Corporation
2004 – 2008	Professor, Kobe Gakuin University Law School (execution / preservation act and bankruptcy law)
2001 – 2003	Adjunct Lecturer, Konan University, Faculty of Law