PRACTICE
AREAS

Features of
Our Practices

Iwata Godo, which grew focusing on corporate legal services, has long been providing clients with advice on a wide range of legal issues that arise from day-to-day business activities and has also represented clients in litigation and other dispute resolution.

PRACTICE AREAS

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.

M&A

Our firm provides full-service advice and support for mergers, acquisitions and corporate reorganizations, including structuring, strategic planning, due diligence, drafting and negotiation of contracts, filings with regulatory authorities, and post-merger integration. As M&A has become more complex and specialized in recent years, our M&A practice has grown to include a broad range of work, including MBOs and other going private transactions, as well as squeeze-outs of minority shareholders. With regard to hostile takeovers and activist shareholders, we support the drafting and implementation of takeover defenses, and we advise on communications with activist shareholders and on handling shareholder proposals and proxy fights. In privately held companies, we advise retiring founders and managers with large shareholdings on their business succession planning, including structuring and tax considerations. In this work, we collaborate with specialized tax advisers as necessary.

Finance

Since the founding of our firm in 1902, we have continuously been a prominent adviser to banks (including the central bank, megabanks, trust banks and more recently online banks), securities firms, leasing companies, credit card companies, insurers (both life and non-life), and asset managers, as well as various other types of financial institutions. We are committed to providing our clients in the financial sector the advice they need as quickly as possible. In addition to the experience from our practice, many of our lawyers have been seconded to a financial institution or the FSA or other financial regulator.

IPO/Startup Support

With extensive experience and expertise in IPOs and startup support, Iwata Godo provides clients with accurate advice on the legal challenges they face, and service with a view to IPO success and startup growth.

The Japanese government implements various measures to support the growth of startup companies, such as improving the investment environment and expanding the supply of funds to startups. In addition, the FSA, stock exchanges and securities industry associations have been revising and simplifying rules and procedures and enhancing investor protection measures in order to expand trading in unlisted stocks and revitalize the IPO market. Our firm keeps abreast of trends in these industries and the latest laws and regulations, and strives to provide clients with the latest information and legal advice.

Dispute Resolution

Dispute resolution, including litigation, mediation, arbitration and conciliation, constitutes one of the most important practice areas of Iwata Godo.

We handle a wide variety of civil and commercial disputes, ranging from the ordinary to the large and complex. We have successfully represented clients in a number of lawsuits and other disputes concerning interpretation of contracts, violations of the principle of suitability and duty to explain at financial institutions, and other claims based on breach of contract and tort. We also have extensive experience in litigation that has significant impact on corporate management , including shareholder derivative suits, lawsuits to invalidate shareholder meeting resolutions, dismissal of officers, injunctions against the issuance of new shares, and stock pricing.

Crisis Management

One of the most important issues in the management of a business is the establishment of a compliance framework which reflects generally accepted social norms. Iwata Godo has traditionally provided advice and drafted documentation for disclosures under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and stock exchange regulations, as well as company rules and internal controls related to insider trading, cartel regulation under the Antimonopoly Act, and many other issues., We have extensive experience in the establishment of a compliance framework which is appropriate for each client.

Competition/Antitrust Law

Since the founding of our firm in 1902, we have been serving clients in a wide variety of industries and with a wide range of business models. In competition and antitrust law, we provide both Japanese and overseas clients with full-service support, including advice on day-to-day issues, compliance and internal controls, training for directors and employees, antitrust review of M&A and business collaborations, internal investigations, leniency, and dealing with regulatory inspections and investigations.
９　Information Technology

Intellectual Property

Iwata Godo has a very strong practice in intellectual property, including patents, utility models, design rights, trademarks, copyright and unfair competition. In addition, we are also particularly strong in matters in other fields which require knowledge and understanding of technology. Recent developments in technological innovation have been rapid, and research and development of new technologies is accelerating. Intellectual property, the result of research and development, is a management resource and a source of competitiveness. It is therefore of the utmost importance to formulate strategies to invest in and leverage intellectual property, to establish a framework for managing IP, and to make appropriate disclosures.

Information Technology

We have a wealth of experience and knowledge in issues related to the development and use of technology, including AI, IoT and blockchain, and we leverage our expertise to serve clients in a wide range of industries. In matters related to data and technology, we provide one-stop service rapidly and efficiently. Iwata Godo is a member of Privacy Rules, the only international law firm network specializing in privacy and cybersecurity.

Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization/Rehabilitation

We represent and advise creditors, sponsors, investors and corporate debtors in legal procedures relating to liquidation and rehabilitation, including bankruptcy, special liquidation, civil rehabilitation and corporate reorganization, as well as in "business revitalization ADR", REVIC financing and private and voluntary arrangements that make use of METI and FSA guidelines.

Employment Law

We believe that employment-related matters are among the most important challenges that a company can face. In building long-term relationships with our clients, we learn each client's attitude and philosophy on employment issues, and make it our priority to help our clients reach their objectives.

We are also very aware that employment matters can cause a "bottleneck" for a company's management. Our lawyers with specialized expertise in employment and HR issues follow up quickly on clients' questions and requests. 

Employment issues often arise in the context of other management issues: corporate, tax, intellectual property, competition law issues, to name but a few. Our employment lawyers collaborate with our lawyers having expertise in the relevant field, in order to provide our clients with a one-stop service.

Environment and Global Warming

While the legal challenges to harmonize environment and business have changed over time, Iwata Godo has been providing solutions continuously for many years.

In dispute resolution, we represent corporate defendants. In the era of high economic growth, we handled lawsuits related to pollution, and more recently we have been handling lawsuits seeking injunctions to suspend power plant operations. These lawsuits have attracted public attention and may affect the survival of our clients, and require specialized litigation skill as well as an understanding of physics, engineering, geology, medicine, statistics, epidemiology and social policy. Our firm has over many years acquired the experience and developed the organizational know-how to successfully litigate these kinds of cases.

Real Estate

Real estate is of course governed by special legislation, including the Act on Land and Building Leases, the Act on Building Unit Ownership, and the Real Estate Brokerage Act, but a wide range of other more broadly applicable laws are also relevant to real estate transactions and finance, including the law of contracts and torts, trust law and financial regulation. Providing legal services related to real estate requires knowledge and experience in a very wide range of practice areas. For both Japanese and overseas clients, we are a full-service firm in real estate, including transactions, development projects, and dispute resolution, with lawyers with extensive knowledge and experience in real estate issues.

Tax

Tax issues arise in a wide variety of situations, including M&A, restructuring, and cross-border and financial transactions, whether in complex specialized transactions or in the ordinary course of business. We advise clients on tax issues from the planning stage onward in order to minimize tax risk, and in situations such as developing a new line of business we liaise with tax authorities to clarify tax treatment. In addition, as the economy and internationalization advance, difficult tax issues have increased in number, and there are an increasing number of cases where the tax authorities and taxpayers disagree on the appropriate tax treatment. In such cases, we represent clients throughout the entire process, from the authorities' investigation through to administrative appeals and litigation against the tax authorities.

Pharma and Healthcare

Iwata Godo has a proven track record of advising pharma companies, medical device manufacturers, wholesalers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and food and beverage manufacturers, both Japanese and foreign, on a wide range of regulation, including the Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products, the Clinical Trials Act, competition rules of self-regulatory associations, the Food Labeling Act, the Health Promotion Act and the Medical Care Act.

In addition to this sector-specific regulatory advice, we also respond to the wide range of needs of pharma and healthcare companies, with comprehensive legal support in intellectual property, competition law, data privacy, employment law and other areas.

Consumer Law

B2C commerce is generally regulated more strictly than B2B. Companies engaged in B2C business must comply with the Consumer Contract Act and other laws related to consumer protection. Neglecting these issues can result in administrative sanctions, damages liability from civil litigation, and reputational damage. It must be noted as well that consumer protection is an area of law in which the rules are constantly changing, and businesses must keep their compliance programs up to date. Our firm follows closely the latest developments in consumer regulation, and regularly advises and represents B2C businesses on relevant laws, dealing with regulators and dispute resolution.

Non-Profit and Public Corporations

Our firm provides comprehensive legal services related to local governments, led by lawyers with experience at administrative agencies. We also advise and represent government-affiliated organizations, educational corporations, medical corporations, industry associations and other non-profits and public sector entities. In particular, we have handled M&A and restructuring for educational corporations, medical corporations and other types of organizations.

Pro Bono

Iwata Godo actively contributes to the work and activities of bar associations. Among other notable contributions, our firm's founder Chuzo Iwata served as President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in 1953, and other lawyers of our firm have served as President of the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association and Kanto Federation of Bar Associations.

In addition, we encourage our attorneys to take part in a wide range of public interest activities in order to contribute to society. Our lawyers have served as Bar Examiners, instructors at the Legal Training and Research Institute and law schools, members of the advisory councils of government agencies, officers of public interest corporations and educational institutions, and outside directors of listed companies.

International

Our international practice includes advising foreign clients and their Japanese subsidiaries on Japanese law, as well as advising Japanese clients on foreign law in collaboration with foreign law firms. When we advise foreign clients on Japanese law, we often prepare our advice in English at their request, typically in important matters that need to be reported to a global or regional head office. When we advise Japanese clients on foreign law, we assist our clients in controlling foreign legal costs and ensuring the quality of the foreign legal work, especially by selecting a law firm which is appropriate for the work in question from our network of foreign law firms with whom we have collaborative relationships.

PRACTICE AREAS