Naoki Shimazaki is Of Counsel in the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster LLP and is engaged in a general corporate practice, with particular emphasis on international transactions. Mr. Shimazaki’s practice involves the representation of clients in the areas of corporate finance and investments, venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions and joint venture formations. He has been involved in numerous cross-border transactions between the U.S. and Japan, both outbound and inbound, in the areas of strategic investments, acquisitions, joint ventures, joint research and development, and product licensing and distribution. Representative transactions include assisting Japanese companies in acquisitions of U.S. technology companies, assisting U.S. companies entering the Japanese market through a joint venture or other relationship with a local partner, assisting U.S. startup companies in establishing a strategic alliance with and strategic investment from a Japanese partner, and assisting Japanese companies in the U.S. in their day to day activities.

Mr. Shimazaki spent more than seven and a half years living and working in Tokyo where he was licensed as a Foreign Legal Consultant (Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi) from 1991 through 1998. He also became the first foreign lawyer to take an executive position in the Japan Federation of Bar Association (Nichibenren), serving as Vice-Chair of its International Relations Committee from 1996 - 1998.

Mr. Shimazaki received his J.D. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and his Masters in Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management in 1984. He received his B.A. degree from the University of California at Davis. He is fluent in Japanese.