Fumihiko Hori is of counsel to Morrison Foerster Law Offices. Fumihiko’s practice covers a wide range of Japanese regulatory and policy matters, including energy and Japanese government initiatives on Green Transformation (GX), as well as export controls and sanctions, foreign investment regulations, the national security control regime of Japan, and regulations and policies on information and communications including cutting-edge technologies, among others. Fumihiko regularly advises multinational companies on all aspects of the continuously changing Japan regulatory regime of the energy market, national security, and various relevant regulations.

With over 10 years of experience advising multinational clients on energy matters since the outset of the Japanese government’s drastic deregulation of the energy market, Fumihiko regularly counsels on regulatory matters in the renewable energy industry, including net-zero energy procurement schemes and other energy-related transactions, and newly introduced energy trade solutions, such as Corporate Power Purchase Agreements, which have recently been widely accepted in Japan, and battery energy storage systems.

He also advises clients on matters concerning the Japanese national security regulatory scheme, particularly with respect to export controls and foreign investment regulations. With in-house experience as a secondee in charge of export and import compliance to a Japanese subsidiary of one of the largest global technology companies, Fumihiko has firsthand knowledge of the interaction between regulatory requirements and the internal business needs of clients.

He works with clients with cutting-edge technologies to determine if and how the existing regulations will apply to those technologies and how the current regulatory regime will be developed, and plays a pivotal role in communicating with the relevant administrative agencies in Japan. 

Before starting his law career, Fumihiko spent six years working for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI). At METI, he participated in formulating laws and ordinances related to deregulation, particularly with respect to the Japanese government’s IT policy. He was also involved in policy planning concerning electronic components, including semiconductors.

Fumihiko received his LL.B. from the University of Tokyo in 1999, his LL.M. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2003, and his Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2004. In 2007, he received a J.D. from the University of Tokyo and, in 2008, he completed his training at the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan (61st trainee).

Fumihiko is a bengoshi admitted to practice in Japan, a member of the Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association, and a qualified lawyer in New York.