The chairman of the international law firm representing MTFG in its proposed merger with UFJ has issued a robust defence of the deal.

Rodgin Cohen, chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, made his comments in response to a paper by Stephen Givens, a corporate lawyer and lecturer at Japan's Keio University, which argued that a US court would rule UFJ's tactics were "illegal and invalid and UFJ's directors would be liable to shareholders for breach of fiduciary duty".