Hiroyuki Hagiwara, an intellectual property and disputes veteran in Japan, has left his eight-year role as a Tokyo-based partner at Paul Hastings heading into an in-house senior legal counsel role following 25 years in private practice.
Hagiwara on LinkedIn that, after a 25-year stint in private practice spanning three law firms, he was set to start at the Tokyo office of US-based life sciences company Exact Sciences Corporation on 1 August.
Asia Business Law Journal has contacted Exact Sciences, which specialises in molecular diagnostics technologies and services, by email for details on Hagiwara’s role at the company.
The registration profile of Hagiwara, who is admitted to the New York Bar among other legal qualifications, on the New York State Unified Court System’s website has been updated to show “Exact Sciences KK” as the business name of his new workplace. The Tokyo-based IP and disputes veteran’s profile has also ceased to appear on Paul Hastings’ website.
At Paul Hastings, Hagiwara was a Tokyo-based partner in the firm’s litigation department with 30 years of experience in patent licensing, litigations and disputes. He began his career in 1993 as a licensing professional at Hitachi, engaging in contentious IP licensing. In 2000, he joined New York-based intellectual property firm Fish & Neave, which later merged with Ropes & Gray in 2004, and worked as an associate attorney.
Hagiwara spent close to 12 years at Ropes & Gray, where he practised as a partner advising global technology and pharmaceutical companies on matters relating to IP and investigations. In 2016, he left for Paul Hastings, where he focused on IP litigation, investigations, white-collar defence and compliance.
Throughout his career, Hagiwara has served as both plaintiff and defendant counsel in patent cases before US courts, including the District of Delaware, the Western District of Texas and the Central District of California. He has also led cross-border international portfolio licensing and litigation projects.
