Corporate

Our firm provides legal advice to businesses on day-to-day issues, management, the drafting and review of contracts and internal rules, and shareholder meetings and other corporate procedures. Our corporate practice includes advice and drafting in all areas of compliance and governance, including directors' duties. We provide critical support to the legal functions of our corporate clients, regardless of the industry, and we make sure that our advice is up to date and appropriate for dynamic business environments.
  • General Corporate
  • Corporate Governance
  • Shareholders' Meetings

General Corporate

Iwata Godo advises its clients in Japan and overseas with a wide range of legal services based on our extensive experience and achievements in the issues that companies face on a daily basis. We provide a wide range of advice on important corporate actions such as incorporations, changes in share capital, amendments to articles of incorporation, decisions on use of share capital, issuance of shares, warrants and bonds, share repurchases, reorganizations, sales of businesses, dissolutions and liquidations. In addition, with the increase in shareholder derivative litigation, we have been advising and providing opinions on violation of director's duty of care and other issues related to preventing and responding to such litigation. At the "Business Court", we represent clients in both litigation and non-litigious matters. Please visit Dispute Resolution page for details.Iwata Godo also advises on a wide range of governance matters, including articles of incorporation, internal rules, and administration of boards of directors and other decision-making bodies, from how to submit proposals to the preparation of minutes.




We advise regularly on the drafting, review and interpretation of both commonly used contracts (e.g., distribution, licensing, outsourcing, sales terms and conditions) and contracts for special transactions (e.g., capital tie-ups, business collaborations, joint ventures). We also advise on documentation and carry out procedures for employee stock ownership plans, commercial registrations and other corporate matters.




Iwata Godo's attorneys, based on our extensive experience and achievements in corporate legal affairs, have been writing commentaries on judicial precedents for Shoji Homu, a prestigious business law journal, since its foundation in 1955.

Corporate Governance

Sound corporate governance is essential for the sustainable growth of companies and the improvement of corporate value over the medium to long term. As a result of recent reforms, corporate governance has become increasingly important in corporate management, especially for listed companies.




Our firm provides a wide range of advice in corporate governance, such as development of governance systems, establishment and operation of internal control systems, disclosure, evaluation of boards of directors, and operational support for boards of directors, taking into account new legislation, Corporate Governance Code amendments, and regulatory "guidelines". We provide comprehensive and strategic advice from both "offensive" and "defensive" perspectives, always taking into account the latest developments.

Shareholders' Meetings

Iwata Godo has accumulated a great deal of achievements in advising on and providing guidance for the general shareholder meetings of both listed and private companies, including review of documentation, providing guidance at rehearsals, and attending the meetings. For the general meetings of listed companies, we have advised on racketeers' demands for benefits as well as on many shareholder proposals and proxy fights resulting from shareholder activism. We have worked on a number of high-profile cases, including litigation concerning prominent racketeers and proxy fights with international activist funds. We have recently been working on constructive dialogue with shareholders for general meetings as well as "virtual general meetings", and on responding to the increasing number of shareholder proposals. Based on our experience over many years, and always taking into account the latest legislative and regulatory developments, we provide our clients with comprehensive and strategic advice based on the regulations concerning disclosure and governance, stock exchange rules and various regulatory guidelines.

Publications Related to Corporate

  • 202509

    "2025/9/12 9:30" 327 "2025/9/12 松澤" 商事法務ポータル 坂東大聖 1.コーポレート 分野選択 分野選択 https://portal.shojihomu.jp/archives/76432 GPIF、「2024年度 サステナビリティ投資報告」を刊行 なし The GPIF publishes the "FY2024 Sustainability Investment Report Publisher：Shoji Homu Portal website

    Publisher：Shoji Homu Portal website

    Author：
    BANDO Taisei　
  • 202509

    METI, study group on civil liability in the utilization of AI (1st Meeting)

    Publisher：Shoji Homu Portal website

    Author：
    NOGUCHI Daisuke　
  • 202509

    Shin Shoji Hanrei No.795

    Publisher：Shoji Homu No.2399

    Author：
    ISHIKAWA Teppei　 SEKIGUCHI Akimasa　 MIURA Takashi　 NAKAZAWA Ryo　 MOTOMURA Takeshi　 YOSHIHARA Tomomichi　
  • 202508

    Perspective: Protecting the interests and satisfaction of general shareholders in non-public transactions

    Publisher: Shoji Homu No. 496

    Author：
    ITO Hiroki　
  • 202508

    Tokyo Stock Exchange publishes "Investor Feedback on IR Systems and Activities"

    Publisher：Shoji Homu Portal website

    Author：
    KUNIMOTO Kazuki　

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Lectures, Seminars and Conferences Related to Corporate

  • 202509

    "Practical Guide to Implementing and Utilizing Technology for Business Efficiency (Part 1 & 2) - From Introduction to Operation, Optimization, and Risk Management of Electronic Contracts and Signatures, Document Management, and Legal Tech"

    Speaker： SAITO Hiroki　 IWAMOTO Yoshiya　

  • 202507

    "Key Points of Building a Trade Secrets Management System - Following the March 2025 revision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Management Guidelines for Trade Secrets"

    Speaker： KUDO Ryohei　 SEKIGUCHI Akimasa　

  • 202504

    "Status of Customer Harassment and Immediate Actions"

    Speaker： IIDA Hiroshi　

  • 202504

    "30 Must-Know Judicial Precedents for Managing Shareholder Meetings"

    Speaker： MOTOMURA Takeshi　 YAMADA Kohei　

  • 202503

    "Road Map for Reform of the Companies Act: METI Working Group on Corporate Governance"

    Speaker： IZUMI Atsushi　 YAMADA Kohei　 MAETA Takumi　

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News Related to Corporate

  • 202505

    Comments by Saito Hiroki were featured in an article titled "Third-party committee's 'facts' diverge from the court and authorities; Party refutes Fuji TV's allegations"

    Publisher：The May 30 Nikkei (online edition)

  • 202505

    A comment by Mori Shunsuke was featured in an article titled "Judicial decision in favor of Makino Milling, elaborate countermeasures successful, NIDEC's TOB withdrawn."

    Publisher：The May 14 Nikkei (online edition)

  • 202505

    A comment by Motomura Takeshi was featured in an article titled "Judicial decision in favor of Makino Milling, elaborate countermeasures successful, NIDEC's TOB withdrawn."

    Publisher：The May 14 Nikkei (online edition)

  • 202504

    An interview with Mori Shunsuke appeared in article titled "Even large companies with high market capitalization can be targets of hostile takeovers"

    Publisher：Web MARR dated April 8, 2025

  • 202504

    A comment by Mori Shunsuke was featured in an article titled "Injunction to Halt Countermeasure Against Nidec's TOB: Key Points of the Judicial Ruling"

    Publisher：The April 17 Nikkei (online edition)

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Practice Areas

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