Speaking Engagement/ Publication
Ken Kiyohara often speaks at seminars locally in Japan, and participates in an international conference. He is also interviewed and quoted from time to time in the Japanese and English media (such as Nikkei, the Financial Times, and Reuters) on topical issues such as corporate governance, shareholder activism, insider trading, securities regulations and other capital market related matters.
Ken Kiyohara contributes to legal magazines on such topics as tender offer regulations, protection of minority shareholders, corporate governance, disclosure, auditing and insider trading. Additionally, he contributed approximately 30 articles to "Crossroads" (Juujiro), the daily column in the Nikkei evening edition, mainly on various corporate governance and disclosure issues during 2007 to 2013.
His media quotes/interviews and speaking engagements (in English) and articles and commentaries (in English) include among others the following:
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April 2024Media QuoteQuoted in an article of Nikkei (in Japanese), “Beneficial Shareholders Excluded from Tokyo Damages Lawsuits, Overseas Investors Rebuff Ruling” (April 29, 2024)
Ken Kiyohara was quoted in Nikkei article on legal issues, entitled “Beneficial Shareholders Excluded from Tokyo Damages Lawsuits, Overseas Investors Rebuff Ruling” (April 29, 2024), which reported on the Tokyo District Court’s 21 December 2023 Ruling. According to Nikkei, the Court ordered Toshiba to pay JPY100M damages for local institutional investor plaintiffs, while rejecting claims (approximately JPY57.2B in total) from overseas investors who had acquired shares through nominees in Japan but filed lawsuits in their names. In the article, Ken expressed a grave concern about the impact, should the Tokyo District Court’s ruling become a settled precedent, since it would create a substantial hurdle for overseas investors. The court allowed only nominee shareholders registered in the shareholder registry to bring damages claim against issuers as “persons who acquired securities” under Article 21-2 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan, but held that those investors which had acquired securities through sub-custodians, nominees in Japan lacked standing to bring such lawsuits in their names.
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April 2024AwardSelected as Best Lawyers 2025
Ken Kiyohara, our representative partner, has been recognized as among best lawyers in the “Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law” section and “Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice” for 15th edition of Best Lawyers in Japan.
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April 2024International ConferenceIFIAR (International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators)
As a member of the Advisory Group to the Investor and Other Stakeholder Working Group (IOSWG), Ken Kiyohara participated in the panel discussions on "Limited vs Reasonable Assurance" and “Audit Committees Supervision of Corporate Reporting and Audit” held as 2024 Plenary Meeting of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) (April 2024).
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March 2024Media QuoteQuoted in an article of Bloomberg, “Bidding War Over Japan’s Roland DG Raises Governance Questions” (March 22, 2024)
Note: The above are only those in English.
For more information on speaking engagement, media quotes and publication in Japanese and English, please click here.