Bio

Adriano Villa is country partner for Japan and heads the firm’s Japan Desk in Milan and the firm’s office in Tokyo, which he frequently visits during the year. Adriano is to date the only Italian lawyer ever to have ever been admitted to practice in Japan as a foreign lawyer (“Gaikokuho-jimubengoshi”), in 1998. Adriano regularly represents large and medium-sized Japanese enterprises with operations in Italy or doing business with Italian companies as well as large Italian companies and SMEs with operations in Japan or doing business with Japanese companies. He has extensive experience of acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures and start-ups, as well as commercial negotiations and drafting of a broad range of contract types (licence, agency, distribution, etc), arbitration and general legal and business consultancy. He is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) and of the Inter Pacific Bar Association. He is also a member of The Council for the United States and Italy (Young Leaders Conference), of The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, of The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Italy and founding member of the Executive Training Programme Association. Adriano Villa has been Chairman of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan from 1999 to 2002. Since 1994 he is Chairman of Showa Musical Foundation. In 1999 he was awarded the order as a Knight of the Italian Republic for Special Merits.