Tokyo Law Professor and Counsel for Plaintiffs, Yoshimasa Furuta

Introduced by Law School Dean, Mark West.

Sushi will be served.

Dean Mark West hosts University of Tokyo law professor and partner at the Japanese Big Four law firm, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Yoshimasa Furuta. Professor Furuta was counsel for the plaintiffs in the landmark “Overseas Voters Case,” a Japanese Supreme Court decision striking down as unconstitutional a law withholding voting rights from Japanese citizens living abroad. This was only the 7th time in Japanese Supreme Court history where a statute was found unconstitutional, and it was also the first decision that ordered the Japanese government to pay damages.

This talk will provide a behind-the-scenes perspective of this historic Japanese Supreme Court decision.

Questions may be directed to Eddie Mears and Julie Siegel of the Asia Law Society (asialawboard@umich.edu).