I would like to introduce my boss.

私は、１０月１日から２８日まで、日本に一時帰国します。今までは、ワシントン便りを書いていましたが、日本にいる間は、日と響事務所について書こうと思います。この間、知り合いの事務所を訪問して、響事務所の紹介をしたので、それをここで紹介しておきます。しばらくは、日本食三昧です。楽しみ～

I will return to Japan from October 1 to 28 temporarily. So far, I was writing about my life in DC, but I will write about Japan and Hibiki while I am in Tokyo. I went to Posz Law Group in Reston (http://www.poszlaw.com/), and I introduced about Hibiki. Then I post it on my blog. I will eat much Japanese food while I am in Tokyo. I am really looking forward to it.

Hibiki IP Law Firm was founded in 2001. So, our law firm has been in business for only 8 years.
I joined Hibiki in 2004, so this is the fifth year from I joined Hibiki. When I joined Hibiki, it had less than 10 employees, but after I joined Hibiki, work increased more and more, and then Hibiki has about 50 employees now, which is a medium-sized law firm in Japan.

When all is said and done, a characteristic of Hibiki is Mr. Ieiri, I think. So, I would like to introduce my boss to you.

First of all, he is young. When I decided to join Hibiki, he was only 36 years old. Most of law firms in Japan, a chairman is very old, but Mr. Ieiri is not old. One of the reasons why I joined Hibiki was that Mr. Ieiri was very young.

Secondly, he is a decisive person. Mr. Ieiri always makes a decision very quickly. And as far as I know, he has never made an error in decision. I think this is why he has such charisma. It is not exaggeration that most of employees are attached to his charisma.

Thirdly, he is really considerate to his employees. I have many stories in order to explain that he is really considerate to employees.
For example, I have a back problem for a long time. When I couldn’t work because of pain, I was transported by ambulance to the hospital in 2005. At that time, he said to me to forget all about work and just put my treatment first in everything.

In our law firm, we have a system that when we pass the patent attorney exam, Mr. Ieiri buys for us an Aeron Chair. As far as I know, an Aeron Chair is one of the most low impact chairs for our back. Mr. Ieiri said to me before I passed the patent attorney exam that I had better use an Aeron Chair. But I always said as I haven’t had not passed the exam, I couldn’t get him to buy the Aeron Chair.
Then, when I went to the Office after leaving the hospital, an Aeron Chair was put on my seat. It was Mr. Ieiri’s. He bought a new Aeron Chair for him, and he gave me his previous chair. He thought that nobody complained about that because it was used by Mr. Ieiri and I didn’t need to mind the chair because it was not new. It was very helpful for me.

Further, after my being discharged from the hospital, I couldn’t go to office because of back pain, so he permitted working at home quickly. When I came back to the office, he bought a couch in order to lie down on the couch whenever I felt pain. After it was decided to go to Washington DC, when he knew that I couldn’t sit on an economy seat because of pain, he bought me a business class ticket readily.

In addition, he is very responsible, caring, and tactful person. His personal character becomes evident in his replies of e-mail. For example, when I have 10 questions which would like to ask him, I ask him only three questions because he is very busy. However, whenever I ask him some questions, he answers not only some questions, but also other questions about which I don't ask him. I think he thinks why I have questions, and he assumes other questions.

As previously mentions, when I had a job interview, as Hibiki was very small law firm, so I was not going to enter Hibiki. But, after repeating to exchange e-mail with him, I was very impressed with his considerate and clear responses and I decided to work with him.

Furthermore, he works very quickly. Although he is quick to reach his decision, he is also very quick at other every works. For example, when I send e-mail, he always replies first though he is very busy.

I would like to close by saying that I really wanted to come to US because I am very interested in American people and I would like to make it possible to speak English. But as you know, I can’t speak English well, actually I can’t read and write English well. So I don’t know why he let me go to Sughrue as a trainee. But he never makes a bad decision, and I trust in him completely. So I will definitely learn something which is informative and useful for our clients and Hibiki during my training in US.