What is strategic legal affairs? Explanation of the differences from clinical and preventive legal services, specific examples, and the qualities required.

When we think of corporate legal staff, it is easy to imagine contract work and handling lawsuits, but "strategic legal affairs," which supports a company's management strategy, is also an important role. This section explains the difference between clinical legal affairs and preventive legal affairs, specific examples of strategic legal affairs work and the qualities required, and also provides useful information for future career and skill development.

Strategic Legal Affairs refers to legal activities that support a company's business strategy

Strategic legal affairs are legal activities that actively support a company's management and growth from a legal perspective. It is responsible for strategically managing legal issues and risks that a company faces, and planning and executing legal approaches in line with business strategies and goals. We provide legal advice and support to achieve goals, including new business launches, overseas expansion, M&A, and other types of transactions. They are expected to be involved in decision-making of corporate activities from a management perspective and contribute to maximizing corporate value through the use of their legal skills.

Why is Strategic Legal Affairs so important?

Strategic legal support is essential when developing an aggressive business. One of the factors behind the increasing importance of strategic legal affairs is the recent globalization of markets. In order to approach foreign markets, it is essential to comply with the laws and regulations of the countries in which you are expanding. This is because, in doing business with foreign companies, it is necessary to comply with both domestic and foreign regulations.

The increase in mergers and transactions such as M&A is another factor that has increased the importance of strategic legal affairs. Especially in the case of transactions with large amounts of money, careful risk control is required, and the support of legal staff is indispensable. In a complex and challenging business environment, with unpredictable and speedy world trends, advances in technology, and the development of unknown business areas, the need for strategic legal functions within a company is increasing.

Differences between Strategic Legal Affairs and Clinical and Preventive Legal Affairs

When understanding the content of strategic legal affairs, "clinical legal affairs" and "preventive legal affairs" are contrasted. Strategic Legal Affairs, Clinical Legal Affairs, and Preventive Legal Affairs are all in the same field of corporate legal affairs, but they handle different areas of work. This section will explain the differences between the Clinical and Preventive Legal Services and Strategic Legal Services, along with their respective business content.

What is Clinical Legal Affairs?

Clinical legal affairs are legal affairs that directly lead to the resolution of legal disputes and problems when they occur in a company, and are tasked with working to resolve legal disputes and problems that have already occurred in a way that is as advantageous to the company as possible. For example, we deal with all kinds of problems related to corporate activities, such as lawsuits when a company is sued by another company for infringement of some rights or, conversely, when a company is sued by another company for infringement of its rights, as well as various types of claims. The objective is to resolve disputes in a manner that minimizes damage to the company as much as possible.

What is Preventive Legal Affairs?

While clinical legal affairs is to respond to emergencies, preventive legal affairs is mainly to take measures during normal times. Preventive legal affairs comprise a large part of corporate legal affairs. The mission is to develop preventive measures to prevent the company from getting into legal disputes and troubles, and to control risks to minimize the damage when it does get involved. Preventive legal affairs are becoming increasingly important in an era when compliance issues are becoming more and more important.

Clinical legal affairs, which are handled when a dispute has already occurred, tend to be costly and risky because they are handled after the fact. Preventive legal affairs minimize such costs and risks by taking measures to prevent disputes, but if preventive legal affairs are inadequate, similar legal disputes may be repeated. In situations where this preventive legal work is sufficient, strategic legal work aims to further advance its effectiveness and maximize management effectiveness.

Features and Specific Services of Strategic Legal Affairs

Strategic Legal affairs is characterized by support for management strategy, acquisition and utilization of intellectual property rights, and new business transactions. The work of strategic legal affairs involves activities that link the business goals of an organization with the legal aspects of the organization in order to provide the best legal strategy. Specific tasks vary depending on the nature of the organization and the industry, but the following is a description of typical tasks.

Business Strategy Support and its Duties

First, we provide support for management strategy. This activity involves providing support and advice from a legal perspective in order to achieve a company's medium- to long-term vision and goals. Specifically, the following are some of the services we provide

• M&A (merger and acquisition) support
  M&A (mergers and acquisitions) involve a large amount of money and have a large impact after implementation, so it is important to conduct preliminary investigations (due diligence) on the target company. It is an important mission of strategic legal affairs to facilitate corporate restructuring and business succession. The support of strategic legal affairs is indispensable in all aspects of handling mergers and acquisitions between companies, including the understanding and confirmation of a vast amount of materials such as contract documents. The person in charge of strategic legal affairs must be able to make legal judgments from the perspective of management.

• Support for Overseas Expansion
  When a company expands its business overseas, it faces a variety of issues that do not exist in the Japanese legal system and requires complex legal responses, such as reviewing English-language contracts and researching local laws and regulations. We research whether the region is suitable for business expansion in terms of competition and all other environmental aspects, and promptly carry out various legal procedures. We provide legal support for international transactions and overseas expansion, including the establishment of local subsidiaries, employment of employees, and the role of supporting management and sales departments from a legal perspective, in cooperation with domestic and foreign lawyers and other professionals.

Acquisition and utilization of intellectual property rights and its business activities

Acquisition and utilization of intellectual property rights" are legal activities to legally protect a company's intellectual property, such as technology and brands, and to make use of them in business. Specifically, acquiring patents and trademarks, and utilizing copyrights are examples of such activities. In preventive legal affairs, the purpose of intellectual property is only to protect it, but in strategic legal affairs, a proactive attitude is required to use it proactively, for example, to enhance competitiveness as a strength of the company, while helping to properly manage and protect the organization's valuable assets.

Risk Consideration for New Transactions and New Business

Finally, we will discuss risk considerations for new transactions and businesses. Legal activities to minimize the legal risks associated with new transactions and business development are also important. This includes drafting and reviewing contracts and providing legal support for new transactions and businesses.

While the objective is to prevent legal problems before they occur, and thus is similar to preventive legal work, strategic legal work requires understanding the company's business model and management policies, anticipating and understanding legal risks, and investigating possible sources of concern. The legal risks associated with new business partners and new business industries are checked, and measures are considered and devised to ensure that business development is feasible.

Qualities Required of Legal Professionals in Strategic Legal Affairs

Considering the applicable job description and objectives, what qualities are required of a legal staff member in charge of strategic legal affairs? This section describes the attitude and skills you should possess.

Advanced legal knowledge and management perspective

In addition to a high level of legal knowledge, the candidate must have a managerial perspective. Those who can think from a business perspective and propose solutions regarding the company's growth strategy are qualified for the position of strategic legal affairs manager.

High level of expertise in the area of responsibility

In addition to having a high level of legal expertise, a strategic lawyer must also have a high level of specialization in the company and the area he or she handles. The Strategic Legal Affairs Manager must be able to respond flexibly to complex and difficult issues that may arise, and therefore, a lawyer who handles corporate legal affairs or a person with a long history of legal experience in a specific industry would be a good fit.

Able to express constructive opinions to management.

If the strategic legal affairs manager can provide candid opinions and constructive ideas to the management team, it is more likely to lead to the company's growth. In order to work closely with management while maintaining an independent perspective, the candidate must have the ability to make sound judgments backed by knowledge and the courage to express candid opinions.

Success in strategic legal affairs requires skill development and consultation with an attorney.

Not only is the work of strategic legal affairs broad and high-level, but it is not something that can be learned overnight, as the nature of the work varies depending on the environment and strategy of the company. In order to effectively carry out strategic legal affairs, in-depth legal knowledge and abundant experience are essential. It is also important to have a high level of awareness to improve your skills on a daily basis.

We recommend the FRONTEO Legal Link Portal (FLLP), operated by FRONTEO, for those in charge of strategic legal affairs. It is one of the largest platforms in Japan that connects corporate contingency officers, such as legal, intellectual property, administrative, and information system departments of companies, with lawyers and experts in Japan and overseas, and provides free access to numerous legal and intellectual property videos supervised by lawyers and experts. The carefully selected explanatory videos are ideal for efficiently improving your skills and updating your knowledge.

In addition to being a reference material for improving your level of knowledge and experience, "FLLP" is also a great way to find a law firm that you can consult with regarding complex matters. In strategic law, which deals with many complex matters, the experience and knowledge of a single legal staff member is limited, and it is extremely difficult to cover all the latest legal knowledge on a day-to-day basis by oneself. It is also possible to obtain appropriate advice from experts with an objective point of view. Working with outside attorneys who have more specialized knowledge in the areas you handle can provide you with up-to-date information and help you come up with ideas that make the most of each other's areas of expertise. Please refer to the explanatory video of "FLLP" to ensure that your strategic legal system is well prepared.