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Lance J. Miller

Consultant
Lance is extremely knowledgeable, responsive, and has excellent judgement.
Client, Chambers Global 2022
About

Lance Miller has over 40 years’ experience of helping multinational clients with cross-border mergers and acquisitions, commercial matters, retailing and distribution, venture capital, tax planning and financing.

Lance has practiced in five jurisdictions and has vast practical knowledge of how business is conducted in the US, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and other countries.

He is widely recognized for his work in corporate and commercial matters across a range of industries including branded apparel and accessories, electronic goods, medical devices, consumer products, power, telecommunications, insurance, banking, payment processing, financing, advertising and downstream petrochemicals

Over the past year, Lance has successfully acted for a US public company in the medical waste industry on the divestiture of its Japanese operations through an auction process. He has also acted for a well-known US public company that sells athletic footwear on the acquisition of a privately held company with principal operations in Japan, but with trademarks and retail outlets outside of the country, in the US and other parts of Asia. Both the divestiture and acquisition involved a range of challenges, including tax planning.

Lance enjoys challenging transactional work, particularly M&A and reorganizations, involving cross-border tax structuring, employment advice and complex commercial and regulatory issues. His many years of practice in multiple jurisdictions and across numerous industries have given him valuable insight into the commercial issues across a wide range of sectors and the ability to successfully navigate different legal systems.

Prior to joining DLA Piper in October 2005, Lance was the Southeast Asia Managing Partner for a well-known international law firm, leading on activity in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

Lance has written for various Asian publications on a range of subjects including joint ventures, infrastructure projects, securitization markets, regulatory frameworks, licensing and more.

Professional QualificationsAttorney-at-law admitted with the State Bar of CaliforniaAttorney-at-law admitted with the Supreme Court of New York

EXPERIENCE

  • Acted for a US public company in the medical waste industry on the divestiture of its Japanese operations through an auction process
  • Acted for a well-known US public company that sells athletic footwear on the acquisition of a privately held company with principal operations in Japan, but with trademarks and retail outlets outside of the country, in the US and other parts of Asia
  • Represented a US privately held casual dining operator in the buy-out of its joint venture partner, a well-known Japanese operator of ramen restaurants
  • Represented The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum (based in New York) in connection with its art lending to its sister foundation in Shikoku, Japan
  • Advised an Indian hospitality company on its Japanese joint venture with the venture capital arm of a well-known Japanese telecommunications company
  • Advised a Chinese fintech company on its joint venture with a Japanese fintech company and a Chinese technology company to develop, localize and commercialize certain retail banking systems in Japan
  • Advised a Silicon Valley based enterprise storage company specializing in hyperconverged secondary storage on its joint venture with a Japanese telecommunications company to establish a marketing and sales conduit in Japan for its products and services
  • Assisted a Fortune 50 company in the disposition in Japan of its Vital Signs health care products division, including establishing the new company into which the business was acquired, obtaining medical device reseller's licenses and executing the related transfers for a Dutch holding company structure
  • Assisted a leading US-based multinational corporation in its acquisition of a medical device sterilization business from another well-known medical products company
  • Represented a well-known apparel brand in setting up its joint venture with a Japanese trading company for the import and distribution of its products in Japan, including all distribution arrangements and agreements
Languages
  • English
  • French
  • Japanese
Education
  • University of Southern California; J.D. 1980
  • University of California at Berkeley; B.A. 1976

Awards and recognitions

  • Ranked Top 10 Influential Corporate/M&A Lawyers in Japan's 2023 Landscape, Business Today
  • Ranked lawyer, Corporate/M&A: International, Japan, Chambers Global and Asia-Pacific 2022
  • Recommended lawyer, Corporate and M&A, Intellectual Property, and Real Estate, Japan, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022
  • Recommended lawyer, Foreign Desks, Vietnam, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022

Memberships And Affiliations

  • New York State Bar Association, United States
  • The State Bar of California, United States

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