Fulfilling Changing Corporate Legal Needs
The second Abe administration adopted the so-called "three arrows" economic policy, or Abenomics, aiming to overcome the lost two decades and deflation. In line with the Japan Revitalization Strategy (June 2013), a growth strategy corresponding to the third arrow in Abenomics, various legal revisions were made, such as revision of the Companies Act to strengthen corporate governance (2014), enactment of the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures (2013), legislation related to work style reform, and revision of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act for data protection in order to promote industrial renewal, employment system reform, strengthening of human resources, scientific and technological innovation, realization of an IT society at the world's highest level, and strategic initiatives to expand access to overseas markets.
In addition, many companies had started new lines of business in fintech and IT sectors that were at the time unregulated, including , AI, cryptocurrency and metaverse.
Furthermore, companies have accelerated their global expansion to gain overseas markets, which required them to respond to the extraterritorial application of foreign laws, including competition law, data protection law, and laws for the prevention of human rights violations.
In the implementation of growth strategies, our corporate practice advises management on legal risks and solutions that comply with relevant laws and regulations.
In order to fulfill such needs in corporate legal affairs, we have developed our expertise and broadened our experience in each area, and established practice teams in employment law, tax, intellectual property and international affairs. In international affairs, Iwata Godo has joined TerraLex, a global network of independent law firms.
Furthermore, around this time, as a result of changes in the business environment and views on corporate ethics, as well as increased awareness of corporate governance, corporate misconduct that had been hidden for many years was uncovered, and some conduct that had previously been considered acceptable now became unacceptable.
We advise frequently on preventive crisis management and corporate investigations of wrongdoing, and have made recommendations and formulated recurrence prevention measures so that companies can respond to changes in social values.
In addition, we have worked together with issuers to improve their corporate value, advised M&A target companies as well as their independent committees, acted on the side of issuers in proxy fights, represented corporate defendants in lawsuits filed by activists, and dealt with many cases in which the use of the Japanese version of Wolfpack (particularly, Wolfpack by speculators) was strongly suspected. Based on such experiences, we have been making every effort to build various forms of corporate defense.
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have drastically changed the business and market environment around the world. In addition, Russia invaded the Ukraine in February 2022. The combined impact of the effects of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion has increased uncertainty not only about the future of the global economy but also the security environment surrounding Japan. Such global-scale dramatic changes in the social and economic environment are expected to continue in the future. Accordingly, legislation that can have a great impact on corporate activities and conditions for doing business is expected to continue.
