Profile

Mitsuo Matsushita of Japan served on the Appellate Body from 1995 to 2000. Born in 1933, he is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University and counsel to Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu, a leading international law firm in Tokyo.

Having gained a Ph.D. degree from Tulane University, USA, and a D.Jur degree from Tokyo University, Professor Matsushita went on to become widely acknowledged as one of the most authoritative Japanese scholars in the field of international economic law. In his academic career he has held Professorships at Sophia University and Tokyo University. He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, and at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He has written many publications on various aspects of international trade and competition and investment law.

In his public career, Professor Matsushita has been attached to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of International Economics and Trade as a member of various councils dealing with telecommunications, customs and tariffs, export and import transactions, and industrial property. He serves as a Member of the Office of the Ombudsman of Trade and Investment, which is part of the Japanese government and deals with market access issues.