What are the most significant legal challenges your team has faced as an in-house legal department in recent years?

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on businesses across a variety of industries, and legal departments were no exception. For example, the Japanese tourism industry experienced a dramatic 99.999% decrease in foreign visitors. Traditionally, the primary role of legal departments in Japan has been to limit risk and manage business activities. However, since the issuance of ISO 31022:2020, the Legal Risk Management Guideline, the focus has shifted to turning risks into opportunities through proper risk management. For the past two decades, Japan’s esteemed legal departments have been striving to act as “business partners”. This long-term commitment is now leading Japan in a new direction. We, too, are committed to using legal risk management to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and further improve business in Japan.

What are some of the methods that your team has implemented to overcome these challenges?

We believe that the implementation of a legal risk management framework helps to make informed business decisions. In addition, partnering with outside counsel that aligns with your company’s values creates a foundation for the thorough and multifaceted identification, analysis, evaluation, and treatment of risks. Supporting informed decision-making through a business partnership and a legal risk management framework is crucial to prevent the legal department from becoming a low value department that simply terminates discussions because of potential risks.