Managing Partner Nozomu Ohara

Portrait of Nozomu Ohara

Nozomu Ohara was awarded a bachelors of law degree from Kyoto University in 1966 and passed the Japanese Bar Examination in the same year. He has been a member of the Osaka bar and Japan Federation of Bar Associations since 1969. He continued his legal education by earning an LLM at Kyoto University and an LLM from Harvard Law School in 1976 as a Fulbright Exchange Grantee. In 1979, Mr. Ohara was registered as a licensed patent attorney by the Japan Patent Attorneys Association.

Mr. Ohara’s long experience practicing law in Osaka has firmly established his firm, Ohara & Furukawa (formerly Ohara Law Office), as a pillar of the Kansai legal community. Furthermore, Mr. Ohara has held many prestigious positions within local and international legal institutions, including acting as the Executive Director of the Japan Association of Arbitrators, PPID Council of the International Bar Association and acting as Chairman of the Foreign Lawyers and International Legal Practice Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Mr. Ohara has a strong background in intellectual property and international family law, stemming from his time spent working at Whitman & Ransom in New York and Fenwick, Stone, Davis & West in Palo Alto. However, domestic matters also make up a strong portion of the Ohara & Furukawa’s general practice. Ohara & Furukawa maintains a staff of talented and bilingual family law attorneys who specialize in international family law matters. As such, Mr. Ohara has established himself as a leading figure consulting on Japan’s implementation of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.

Publications

  • “The issues regarding taking a child away”, The Lawyers, September 2011 Issue.
  • “A look at the case law: Ratification of Hague Convention and the ‘best interests of the child'”, The Lawyers, September 2011 Issue.
  • “Ratification of the Hague Convention and the importance of international family mediation”, The Lawyers, August 2011 Issue.
  • “International trends in the management of a law office and the future of law offices in Japan and Osaka”, The Lawyers, August 2006 Issue/
  • “Coping strategies for the cases in which a Japanese company gets involved in a U.S. patent lawsuit”, Intellectual Property Management No. 55-6 , 2005.
  • “Statute of limitaions in patent infringement”, Intellectual Property Management No. 53-11, 2003.
  • 21st century attorneys (Co-author), Yuhikaku Publishing Co., Ltd., 2000.
  • “International competition in the legal profession and the monopoly of legal services by attorneys”, Freedom and Justice, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, August 2000 issue.
  • Law and business in Japan (Co-author), Commercial Law Centre, Inc., 2000.
  • “Gats and the international deregulation of the attorney profession”, Freedom and Justice, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, July 1999 issue.
  • Proposals for the judicial system in the 21st century intellectual property rights (Co-author), Nippon-Hyoron-Sha Co., Ltd., 1998.
  • Intellectual property rights (Co-author), The Japan Intellectual Property Association, 1995.
  • The laws of international litigation (Co-author), Seirin Shoin, 1989.

Bar Admissions

  • Osaka Bar Association, 1969
  • Japan Federation of Bar Associations, 1969
  • Passed Japanese Bar examination, 1966

Education

  • Kyoto University Graduate School, doctoral course, 1982
  • Harvard Law School, LL.M., 1976
  • Kyoto University Graduate School, LL.M., 1973
  • Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan, 1969
  • Kyoto University Law School, Bachelor of Law, 1966
  • Kyoto University Graduate School, LL.M., 1973

Memberships

  • Japan Association of Arbitrators, Executive Director (2003-
    Present)
  • International Bar Association (IBA), Nominations Committee Member (2011-2012)
  • International Bar Association (IBA), PPID Counsel (2007-2010)
  • Foreign Lawyers and International Legal Practice Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Chairman (Currently Commissioner) (1997-2002)
  • Foreign Lawyers Committee of the Osaka Bar Association, Chairman (1989-1990)