TMI Associates (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Senior Managing Partner: Katsuro Tanaka)
welcomed Ms. Reiga Shimizu, attorney-at-law, as a Regional Partner at its Paris Office as of
October 1, 2025.
She moved to France in 2005, and studied at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne and the University of Paris XII. Since 2012, she gained practical experience at DS Avocats law office and was admitted to the Paris Bar Association. With a focus on French and European law, she has extensive experience in various fields relating to corporate legal affairs, such as M&A, joint venture and business alliance, group restructuring, personal data, customs and taxation, transaction agreement, dispute resolution, real estate law, labor law and other regular legal services for European subsidiaries.
On various occasions, she has also provided advice on international transactions and legal compliance to both Japanese and French companies.
We strongly believe that her joining TMI Associates will further strengthen our presence and service system in Europe.
With her international practical experience and professional insight, we will provide our clients with more comprehensive legal services.
[Career of Ms. Reiga Shimizu]
March 1997 Keisen Jogakuen Senior High School
March 2001 Chuo University (LL.B.)
June 2008 University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne (LL.M)
March 2010 DS Avocats law office (in Paris, France) (Trainee)
June 2010 University of Paris XII (Professional second Master’s Degree of
Contracts and commercial Law)
March 2012 DS Avocats law office (in Paris, France)
September 2019 Paris Bar Association
October 2025 TMI Avocats & Associés (Regional partner (France))
About TMI Associates
Since its founding in 1990, TMI Associates has strived to create a law firm that is distinct from any other in Japan and that recasts the image of both attorneys and patent/trademark attorneys. During the past 35 years, the firm has experienced rapid organic growth, both numerically and geographically, while maintaining its progressive culture. From starting with 43 personnel, including ten attorneys and one patent attorney at its founding, as of March 3, 2025, TMI now has 632 attorneys and 101 patent/trademark attorneys among its 1,232 total personnel, and is one of the five largest law firms in Japan. TMI has numerous overseas branches and local desks
in Shanghai, Beijing, Yangon, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Jakarta*, Kuala Lumpur*, Manila, Silicon Valley, São Paulo, Mexico City, London, Paris, Brussels, Nairobi and Sydney. TMI is also well positioned to provide a wide range of global legal services through its Chinese service group, French practice group, India desk, and Korean desk located in its Tokyo office, as well as its joint venture relationships in Japan with Simmons & Simmons LLP (UK), Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP (US), and ARQIS Foreign Law Office (Germany).
TMI provides a comprehensive range of legal services regarding international corporate
transactions and international investment and trade business transactions. The firm has an unrelenting focus on supporting the global business development needs of its clients – both Japanese and international companies – by providing legal services ranging from the acquisition and protection of patent and intellectual property rights to licensing, mergers and acquisitions, financing matters and even dispute resolution.
*Affiliated Office
