lawyer on board - your outsourced legal counsel
We’re your secret weapon to thriving in Japan’s legal system.
We are your outside legal counsel but give you the time, experience, and dedication of an in-house counsel On Board your team.
Our law firm model is a hybrid of in-house counsel and private practice lawyers. We are outside counsel who gives you the time, effort, skills, value, and the senior experience of an in-house counsel, with Japanese language capability to boot.
Do you need a dedicated lawyer with relevant skills and experience to be a risk-spotter, handling the bulk of in-house contracting?
For organisations looking for legal counsel for a period of time, be it for a project, a fixed retainer, or as a substitute for legal colleagues on a leave of absence, with a knack for practical commercial law advice, we provide a different value than traditional law firm would, with more dedicated expertise and services.
We Mean Business—In Japan
We are closer to the business than a traditional law firm counsel would be, and we are business fluent in the Japanese language so we can provide ad hoc advice when needed and react promptly to the needs of your business
Backed by more than 30 years of working with and for Japan, I am on a mission to change things up a bit and provide hassle-free delivery of legal services for businesses of all sizes in Japan.
I set up Japan’s first flexible legal services law firm uniquely powered by secondments, part-time fractional support, and timely delivery of outsourced inside lawyers.
We know that in Japan you have a choice of who you ask to help you with your commercial legal work.
You can hire a full-time in-house legal counsel for your team.
Or, you can ask a law firm on retainer to do your work as it arises.
But there is another option.
Lawyer on Board.
So what is Lawyer on Board?
Secondments. Fractional lawyers. Flexible legal solutions. Portfolio General Counsels. Managed legal services. Lawyer on demand. Lawyer on call... There are lots of ways of calling what we do.
We like to call it “Lawyer on Board” an on-call internal lawyer service, and we like to borrow how our in-house legal counsel clients call it - “An Outsourced General Counsel”
Traditional Law firms tend to be:
Complex to work with
Extremely costly
Lacking real in-house counsel experience
Lacking understanding of how businesses run and how decisions are made
Unable to truly understand the pain points and challenges of a CEO running a business
Inexperienced at managing oversight of business operations
If you are like many of our clients:
You don’t feel the need to bring in-house counsel just yet
But you also want the convenience and peace of mind of having access to a lawyer
You want a lawyer who knows their way around business in Japan
You want someone who has a depth and breadth of experience as an in-house counsel just like you
You want a head on the shoulders of a veteran who can work cohesively with local management in Japan and knows when to escalate issues to you
You also don’t want to go through the traditional law firm model and pay high fees but want the safety of a law firm registered in Japan
Lawyer on Board helps you:
-
Get legal work in Japan done and in compliance with local laws
If you’re a Country Manager, Business Owner, or CEO, we can help you do business in Japan. My 20+ years on the ground means I know the customs and quirks of doing business and managing the legal landscape in Japan.
If you are Post start-up, in business for a year or two, in a rush to get products and services sold, in need of compliant business contracts in Japan, looking for your own on-call inside legal counsel, or in search of a legal advisor who really knows business in Japan - we’re your perfect fit.
-
Get specialized General Counsel services both in English and Japanese
I love working with in-house legal counsel, heads of legal, and Regional GCs based outside of Japan but with a legal portfolio reach to cover Japan operations.
Sometimes you have other legal staff in the region who can help with some of the work, but don’t have a Japan-based lawyer and usually need Japanese contracts support.
-
Get the legal things done in a transparent way that works for your business
We know you need certainty in your legal spending budget. We’ve been there too. Choose flat fee day rate or hourly fee -whichever works for you, but you’ll know the cost before we start working together.
Plus, as a veteran pair of trustworthy hands., I’ll help you stop worrying if the business in Japan has the right contract templates with appropriate risk-taking and risk deflection.
-
From New Zealand? Get a flexible legal solution for your Japan operations
We love rolling out the red carpet to work with New Zealand business owners coming into Japan because we can’t wait to have more of the love from Aotearoa spreading into the corners of the Japanese market.
We offer consultations for entry risk and processes, ongoing retainers for any legal support, and oversight of the business as you grow and hire people in the market, and build your distribution and supply chain.
How Lawyer On Board Works
“I’ve just had a wonderful and very refreshing chat with Catherine regarding all things legal. If you are neglecting this side of your business because it’s in the “too hard” basket, please just contact her and LET HER HELP YOU! :) You’ll feel amazing and professional - I promise!”