Tokyo - (March 14, 2003) -- Morrison & Foerster LLP today announced that Shinji Itoh has joined the firm and will practice with Morrison's Japanese joint venture, Ito & Mitomi. Mr. Itoh joins the Corporate Group as a partner in the Tokyo office, with a focus on financial transactions and securitization. Ito & Mitomi, formed in 2001, is Morrison's joint enterprise and works closely with Morrison & Foerster's Tokyo office to provide integrated U.S. and Japanese law advice on multi-jurisdictional transactional matters. Mr. Itoh joins the firm from Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., where he served as Special Counsel in the Investment Banking Products Division.

"Shinji Itoh is a multi-talented attorney whose practice complements and supports our practice in Tokyo," said Ken Siegel, Managing Partner of the firm's Tokyo office. "With 50 US and Japanese admitted attorneys, our Tokyo office -- working together with Ito & Mitomi -- now has the scale of operation to advise on a wide range of complex transactions and litigation matters. The addition of Mr. Itoh, with his substantial experience in securitization, further extends our capability to advise in this growing practice area in Japan."

Mr. Itoh's practice focuses on asset-based financings, including securitization backed by real estate, equity shares and receivables, and securities offerings inside and outside of Japan. Mr. Itoh handles structured finance deals from initiation to execution. At Nomura Securities, Mr. Itoh was in charge of structuring and managing a wide range of such transactions.

Keith Wetmore, Chair of the firm, stated, "Our Japanese clients expect and deserve their law firm to have the ability to serve all their legal needs. Mr. Itoh will make a significant contribution to the Japanese law capabilities of our Tokyo office and bolster our practice among Japanese clients and U.S. companies expanding their investments in Japan."

Morrison & Foerster was one of the first U.S. law firms to set up operations when Japan changed its laws in 1987 to permit foreign lawyers to practice in the country. Fuyuo Mitomi, one of Japan's leading securities lawyers, leads Morrison's joint enterprise, Ito & Mitomi. The firm represents such leading Japanese and U.S. companies as Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, SOFTBANK, Goldman Sachs, ITOCHU, and Sumitomo Corporation on a wide range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, structured and project finance and litigation.

Mr. Itoh is a 1987 graduate of the law faculty of Waseda University; he completed the Supreme Court's Legal Training Institute in 1990. He received his LL.M. degree from Cornell Law School in 1995. He began his legal career with Tomotsune Kimura & Mitomi in 1990. He spent two years with Brown & Wood LLP in New York as a foreign extern from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Itoh is a Bengoshi admitted to practice in Japan and a qualified lawyer in New York.