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Our Responses to Diversifying Business Needs

Our Responses to Diversifying Business Needs

The practice areas and the personnel structure of our office went through significant changes and expansion in response to the cataclysmic changes in economic environment surrounding Japanese companies such as rapid globalization of the Japanese economy after the Plaza Accord in 1985, the collapse of the bubble economy, and financial deregulation (the “Financial Big Bang”).

In corporate law, in addition to the traditional legal services we had long been offering to many clients, such as advice on corporate management, administration of shareholders’ meetings, and corporate actions, we saw a significant increase in demand for advice and drafting of rules on compliance and corporate governance, including directors’ liability. In the consolidation and re-organization of corporate business, we also saw an increase in cases where we advised on large-scale M&A (mergers, stock transfers and assignments of business), conducted due diligence, and attended to contract negotiations.

In finance and financial services, there was similarly an increase in cases where we provided diversified legal services, including advice on structuring and regulatory issues as well as documentation, in response to the diversification of financial structures and products available to or offered by financial institutions.

In the wake of such expansion of practice areas, the number of attorneys in our firm gradually increased as well.

During the financial crisis in the 1990s triggered by the collapse of the bubble economy, Iwata Godo was deeply involved in various legal procedures required for disposition of an insolvent financial institution, including the establishment of a new bank in order to liquidate this institution, the assignment of its remaining business, and other settlement procedures.

We also assisted leading financial institutions in their efforts for final disposition of non-performing loans by such means as preservation and collection of claims through court procedures when necessary, and advice on reconstruction of the debtors’ businesses. In 1999, the Servicer Act on management and collection of claims held by financial institutions came into effect. Attorneys of Iwata Godo were appointed as directors of servicers (debt collection companies) under this Act, and they continue to be involved in debt collection policies, including advice to management.
In 1996, the office moved temporarily to the Mitsubishi Building due to the demolition and rebuilding of the Marunouchi Building.

History of the Firm