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Happy New Year.   On behalf of everyone at Ainsworth Albright Lawyers, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the trust and confidence you have placed in us over the past year.   The year 2025 marked a period of profound transformation across Australia, Japan, and the global community. Geopolitical uncertainty, the historic transition in financial conditions, and the rapid evolution of technologies such as artificial intelligence have fundamentally reshaped the environment in which businesses operate and individuals make critical life decisions. These changes have highlighted the limitations of traditional legal frameworks and have brought into sharp focus the need to reconsider the role of legal services in modern society.   Throughout 2025, our firm continued to develop and refine its structural approach to legal problem-solving, delivering solutions that integrate legal risk, cross-border considerations, and the interests and background circumstances of the parties involved, with the objective of producing outcomes capable of real-world implementation. Our work in cross-border disputes, financial institution matters, employment and human resources, and succession and asset structuring has reaffirmed the importance of a practical, structured methodology in addressing complex legal challenges.   Since 2025, our corporate vision has been encapsulated in the concept of “So-shin”, which reflects our commitment to creating new legal value and advancing proactively into the future, rather than merely reacting to change. The experiences gained over the past year have demonstrated that this philosophy is not aspirational, but essential.   Looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate that uncertainty will remain a defining feature of the legal and commercial landscape. In response, we will continue to develop our services around three strategic pillars: cross-border risk management, advanced employment and governance advisory, and the structural resolution of succession and family-related disputes. By deepening our expertise in these areas, we aim to provide legal services that combine technical excellence with practical implementation capability.   Ainsworth Albright Lawyers is committed to identifying emerging challenges, anticipating the needs of our clients, and continuously creating new legal value in a rapidly changing world. Guided by our vision of So-shin, our lawyers will work collectively to support you at every critical juncture.   We wish you every success and fullfillment in 2026.   Ainsworth Albright Lawyers  John Urabe  Principal Lawyer

On Friday February 28, IGPI Managing Director Kohki Sakata and Ainsworth Albright Lawyers Principal Lawyer John Urabe co-hosted a webinar on “Strategic and Legal Consideration for Strengthening Partnerships with Local Businesses”.The session explored essential strategic and legal considerations when developing businesses partnerships, particularly across international borders. Attendees from various industries and countries participated, providing valuable feedback on how the session helped them enhance their understanding of partnership fundamentals. As a token of appreciation participants who completed the post-event survey received an exclusive checklist to support their future business initiatives. If you missed the webinar and would like to learn more, please feel free to contact IGPI’s Singapore or Australia offices.

The interview with our Principal Solicitor, Hidetaka Urabe, was featured in the Specialist Law Firms You Can Rely On 2022  section of the nationwide November–December 2022 issue of NICHIGO PRESS . https://nichigopress.jp/topics-item/48472/

Principal Lawyer John Urabe New Year’s Day, 2023 (Reiwa 5) As we welcome the beginning of 2023 (Reiwa 5), I would like to extend my sincere New Year’s greetings. Over the past year, the world continued to confront the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, relentless climate change, global inflation, and a growing food crisis. In Australia, efforts toward the restoration of cross-border travel and economic activity have finally begun to take shape. Against this backdrop, our firm marked its sixth anniversary on 1 April last year. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have entrusted us with your matters, offered your consultations, and extended your support and cooperation in various forms. As we enter an era of rapid internationalisation and digital transformation—one that accelerates toward a truly borderless world—we remain committed to building strong relationships of trust with our clients. Our aim is to go beyond merely offering legal advice, and to provide practical solutions. This year, too, we will continue to take on new challenges and strive to be a truly international, full-service law firm capable of responding promptly and appropriately to our clients’ diverse needs. We humbly ask for your continued support in the same spirit as the past year. In the spirit of the Year of the Rabbit—symbolising leaping forward—I sincerely wish you all a year of great progress, happiness, and continued prosperity. Ainsworth Albright Lawyers John Urabe Principal Lawyer

Principal Lawyer John Urabe New Year’s Day, 2025 (Reiwa 7) As we welcome the beginning of 2025 (Reiwa 7), I would like to extend my heartfelt New Year’s greetings. Looking back, the year 2024 was one in which the international community faced numerous challenges. Amid rising geopolitical tensions, global inflation, and the impact of climate change affecting people’s lives in profound ways, efforts continued to find hope and pave the way toward a better future. At the same time, events such as the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) and the global efforts to address climate change pointed to new possibilities. At our firm, as a partner in shaping the future of both Australia and Japan, we have remained close to our clients’ diverse challenges and provided effective legal support aimed at resolution. In particular, we have devoted ourselves to ensuring that our clients can confidently shape their futures in areas such as international commercial transactions between Japan and Australia, immigration law, employment matters, and corporate legal affairs. In 2025, under the theme of “Sōshin”  (創進 – “creative advancement”), we aim to make this a year of creating new value and taking a step forward into the future. Sōshin  goes beyond mere change or progress—it signifies advancing with creativity and building new possibilities together with our clients. Guided by this philosophy, we are committed to delivering flexible and precise legal services while contributing to the sustainable development of society as a whole. This year as well, we remain dedicated to sincerely supporting the achievement of your goals. We wish all our clients and the wider community continued prosperity and growth from the bottom of our hearts. We humbly ask for your continued support and patronage in the year ahead. Ainsworth Albright Lawyers John Urabe Principal Lawyer