Uchida:

Masahiro and I were colleagues at a general practice law firm. At that time, I worked on various projects with broad business laws including Company Act, Tax Law, and Bankruptcy Law. Masahiro focused more on intellectual property, leveraging his experience as an engineer and a patent attorney.

Samejima:

We happened to work on the same floor and were good friends. We often went out together and discussed “what types of business can lawyers do?” This discussion inspired us to synergize our different expertise, to advise clients to make decisions by law effectively, and to provide practical legal services to technology companies.

Uchida:

Legal services in the area of business laws are “the fusion of law and business”. Legal services in the area of intellectual property are “the fusion of law and technology.” For technology companies, these elements should be integrated, as law and technology should always be integrated with their business strategy. However, traditionally, many lawyers have seen these elements separately. For example, traditional attorneys may say “we will advise you of sales contracts for products. However, we do not understand the intellectual property rights that protect those products. So, please retain another patent attorney.”

Samejima:

At USLF, every attorney is supposed to advise both contractual and intellectual property issues. In other words, every attorney is supposed to provide seamless advice by integrating these issues into a single dimension. This has brought us closer to the mind and needs of our clients.

Samejima:

Many large law firms tend to have several divisions divided by legal expertise of their attorneys. They provide one-stop services by a mix of attorneys of several divisions. Some of our clients told us, “It was like several different law firms in one law firm.”

Uchida:

The attorneys at USLF are diversified, as some have MS degree and others were researchers or engineers. But, all of them have knowledge and passion to “technology” and make every effort to contribute to and optimize the business of our clients by leveraging law as a tool.

Samejima:

We try not to say, “That’s not my specialty so I can’t help you”. Some attorneys focus on intellectual property, but they are also supposed to work on projects requiring other areas. They are supposed to integrate these areas and provide advice that can contribute to the business of our clients. This is what we call “one-stop service.” But…I’m not sure if this can be “ultimate” one-stop service (laugh).

Samejima:

Unlike many other law firms, USLF does not see its uniqueness in its own legal fields. Rather, we see our business through the business of our clients, “technology corporations” such as manufacturers, high-tech companies, and IT companies that provide internet services or system architecture.

Uchida:

Because we see our business from the perspectives of our clients, we deal with any and all legal issues that may arise in the business of our clients, technology corporations. We cover legal areas not only intellectual property but any other legal issues related to technology corporations. So, some may view us as a general practice law firm by seeing us in terms of “legal fields”.

Samejima:

Others may view USLF as an intellectual property law firm. However, in fact, all of our attorneys daily work on drafting agreements, negotiating matters, and litigating in broad areas. In addition, Hiroshi has long focused on corporate cases such as mergers, corporate divisions, bankruptcies, and civil rehabilitations. We just practically exercise our foundation idea that we synergize the characteristics of Hiroshi and me. This is very natural to us.

Uchida:

USLF is evidently not a patent law firm, an intellectual property law firm, or just a general practice law firm. It’s not so easy to describe USLF in one word.

Samejima:

In terms of business, we believe “winning without fighting” is the best and “winning after a fight” comes second. This is because, by its nature, litigations involve severe uncertainty and force our clients to walk on a tight-rope. So, we advise our clients toward avoiding litigations as long as it is reasonable.

Uchida:

However, when advising clients, competent professional attorneys should think “what would happen if this went to courts?” So, we also emphasize the importance of skills in litigations. In fact, we litigate in broad areas such as litigations related to intellectual property, system architecture, or product liability in charge of the partners, who have long experience in litigations.

Samejima:

We don't like litigations. But, when we litigate, we do it thoroughly. We have confidence in our skills on litigations.

Samejima:

What matters to us is our clients and our people. We generally hire lawyers who have previous experience in corporations. This is because we require them to deeply understand the nature and decision making processes of corporations, when providing clients with legal services in business laws. Many of our attorneys have several year experience in large corporations. Many have double-licenses of both attorneys and patent attorneys. Please see the resume of our attorneys for more information. I believe in the combined and collaborative strength of our attorneys and staff members and believe that we can meet the need of our clients by this collaboration.