Response to Globalization
In 2002, the centennial of its founding, Iwata Godo returned to the Marunouchi Building, which had been demolished and rebuilt.
At that time, when the 21st century began, in addition to environmental lawsuits, in which we have been involved as corporate agents since the rapid economic growth period, we were required to respond to complex lawsuits, such as class-action-type lawsuits and residents' campaign-type lawsuits, and large-scale disputes between companies in the area of large-scale disputes and litigation. Corporate integration and restructuring methods were diversified, and thereafter major laws and regulations such as the Companies Act, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, and the Antimonopoly Act were enacted and/or revised one after another, to the extent that the period was called the Great Legislation Era. Furthermore, as compliance and corporate governance became more important, the establishment of internal control systems and group governance has been recognized as important management matters in line with an increasing risk of shareholder derivative lawsuits, and Iwata Godo has been more frequently requested to advise on those matters.
Let us turn our eyes to the world. While the world saw the global financial crisis caused by the Lehman Brothers collapse, and the subsequent European currency crisis caused a severe economic environment, there has been an increased focus on Asia, BRICs and other emerging economies, both as production sites and markets. As our clients’ business activities have been globalized further, we have had more opportunities to advise on international disputes, bankruptcies, corporate matters and finance, as well as dealing with the authorities in connection with the Foreign Competition Law and Anti-Corruption Law (FCPA, etc.). We have therefore sent our attorneys to study abroad, hired attorneys specialized in Chinese law, and have partnered with a major Chinese law firm specialized in corporate legal affairs, Jin Mao PRC Lawyers in Shanghai.