Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu has consistently been recognized, both in Japan and abroad, for its outstanding real estate practice.

Our real estate attorneys provide expert legal services in virtually all aspects of real estate development, construction, acquisition and disposal, management, ownership and leasing. We are experienced in dealing with all types of real estate, including office buildings, residences, commercial buildings such as hotels and shopping malls, logistics centers such as large scale warehouses, resort facilities such as golf or ski resorts, and healthcare facilities such as nursing homes. Our real estate attorneys regularly work on a wide variety of real estate finance transactions, including debt financing through non-recourse loans or bonds and equity financing through a wide range of investment structures, by domestic and/or foreign investors. Further, our attorneys regularly handle complex and highly sophisticated securitization projects such as CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) and RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities). We also advise on public and private offerings of real estate investment funds through a variety of SPVs (special purpose vehicles) and J-REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) listed on Japan's stock exchanges, and are very active in M&A transactions involving real estate companies or J-REITs.

In addition to helping our clients structure and consummate their real estate transactions, we provide advice to clients on the potential risks and consequences of a bankruptcy filing by, or the insolvency of, a key participant in a real estate investment. In this regard, we have assisted clients in crafting the appropriate first response in the event of such financial distress situations, and thereafter with any necessary restructuring of their overall investment structure. We also represent clients in all forms of dispute resolution proceedings (both formal and informal) in connection with real estate matters.

The foundation of our real estate practice group's expertise and reputation for excellence derives from our instrumental role in first introducing real estate securitization and investment funds to Japan. We are proud of the contributions we have made to this field of law by taking legal concepts from abroad and adapting them to Japanese business practices and laws (some of which are unique to Japan) to establish structures that are now considered industry/market standards.

In order to handle increasingly complex real estate transactions, attorneys must possess knowledge of, and expertise in, not only real estate law but also finance, trust, corporate, financial regulatory, environmental, tax and other areas of the law. This is particularly true in the case of J-REITs. For J-REIT projects, attorneys are required to provide, within a very short span of time, voluminous documentation and expert legal advice and service in order to, among other things, establish the investment corporation (J-REIT) and its asset management company, obtain necessary permits and make necessary registrations, establish internal governance structure in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, negotiate complex regulatory matters with Financial Service Agency and stock exchanges, effect the investment corporation's acquisition and/or disposition of the relevant real property and/or real estate trust beneficiary interests, and list the investment securities issued by the investment corporation on the stock exchange. Our attorneys have expert knowledge of, and wide-ranging experience in, finance, corporate, regulatory, real estate, tax and all other areas of the law necessary to provide speedy and appropriate services in any real estate transaction, thereby enabling us to staff projects with skilled and organized teams to successfully handle even the most innovative and sophisticated project.

Recently, the laws and regulations applicable to real estate transactions are being amended at a dizzying pace. Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu devotes tremendous effort and energy to carefully and thoroughly study all new legislation, and disseminate the results thereof to all of our attorneys, even before such laws come into force so that our legal teams are always positioned to apply such institutional knowledge and know-how towards providing smooth and seamless legal services to each and every project. Our real estate practice group members are also actively involved in sharing information to others outside of our firm, through the publication of books and articles and through seminars. In addition, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, through its membership in various associations and committees and as a participant in the Japanese legislative public comment process, actively strives to participate in such legislative process in order to, among other things, realize the reasonableness of Japan's legal infrastructure and systems.