Personal bio
Koichiro (Ko) Sato is a principal in the Commercial, Competition & Trade and Litigation Practice Groups at Masuda, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell. He is experienced with providing outside general counsel (komon-bengoshi) services from his prior practice in Japan. This role required him to navigate multiple jurisdictions and areas of law to achieve clients’ business goals. He brings this expertise to his U.S. practice, serving as outside general counsel for Japanese clients without internal counsel capacities to address U.S. legal matters. He has a unique understanding of common legal issues that Japanese businesses face in all stages of their involvement in the U.S. market. He also counsels clients on Japanese law, drawing from his private practice experience in Japan.
In his prior practice as an attorney (bengoshi) in Japan, he focused on dispute resolution and insolvency. He brings extensive experience in high-stakes international bankruptcy proceedings, intellectual property licensing transactions, complex litigation including patent litigation and international arbitration.
Ko is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb) and has acted as counsel under various arbitration rules, including those of the ICC, UNCITRAL, and the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA). Further, he has ample experience in handling complex in-court bankruptcy in Japan and out-of-court corporate workouts involving global businesses and various international parties, both in counseling and representing creditors and debtors.
Ko began his career as an audit professional at a global accounting and professional services firm after passing the CPA examination in 2008. Prior to joining the firm as Principal, he worked at a prominent law firm in Tokyo, Japan as an attorney (bengoshi) and served as a visiting foreign attorney at Masuda Funai from 2020 to 2021. He is currently licensed to practice law in California and New York, and is licensed as a Solicitor in England and Wales. He is both bi-lingual and bi-cultural, and is uniquely well positioned to serve international clients as a link to doing business in the United States.
Ko earned his LL.B. from Keio University, his master’s degree in Management of Technology from the Tokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School of Innovation Management, and his LL.M. in Law, Science & Technology from Stanford Law School.