Based in Tokyo, the Legal Director, Northeast Asia is a strategic legal business partner, a senior member of the Northeast Asia leadership team and APAC Law Department. The Legal Director, Northeast Asia is primarily responsible for performing and ensuring excellent legal services to the Company throughout Japan, Korea, and as applicable, other markets in the APAC region.

The Legal Director, Northeast Asia must have a strong knowledge of the laws and regulations to manage legal risks within Japan, and the rest of the Northeast Asia region and be able to work independently with limited supervision. The attorney will report to Vice President & General Counsel, Asia Pacific, located in Shanghai, China.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as a strategic legal business partner to the Northeast Asia regional team responsible for driving $600M in sales, working directly with functional and regional leaders in the review, structuring, drafting, and negotiation of a wide variety of complex commercial transactions including service and digital offerings, construction and technology integration contracts, procurement contracts, and enterprise-wide framework agreements.
• As the sole legal counsel in the Northeast Asia region, provide day-to-day legal advice and consultation to all levels of the organization, including senior management and functional leaders (HR, Finance, Procurement etc.) to identify, assess and control legal risks and provide solutions.
• Manage legal risks arising from regional operations and sales contracts, including identifying real risk and mitigating such risks, escalating consideration of such risks within the enterprise in accordance with established policies and procedures, and driving alignment among legal professionals, sales professionals, and other business stakeholders concerning such risks.
• Manage resolution of legal issues that arise in existing commercial relationships, including pre-litigation disputes and inquiries.
• Develop, deliver and implement legal and compliance strategy, best practices, templates, tools, playbooks and associated policies, processes and training on a global basis.
• Partner with the Regional Compliance Director and Compliance team to ensure a robust delivery of compliance programs in the Northeast Asia region, including internal investigations, implementation of compliance policies and training to the local local business.
• Provide significant cross-functional collaboration with members of the Law Department (Strategy & Acquisition Office, Corporate Secretary, Litigation, Intellectual Property etc.) and functional teams such as, HR, Finance, Tax, IT, EHS, and Communications.
• Effectively controlling utilization of outside counsel to ensure quality and cost-effectiveness of legal services.

Required:

• Admitted to Japan or/and a common law jurisdiction (preference will be given to those admitted to practice law in Japan, i.e. bengoshi and those having an LL.M.).
• At least 12 years of experience in a reputable law firm and/or in-house (ideally in a multinational company), with at least 8 of those including substantial transactional experience.
• Native Japanese language and fluency in English (spoken and written); other Asian language will be advantageous but not necessary.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Broad level of experience to demonstrate a strong knowledge of the laws and regulations to manage legal and compliance risks within Japan and the rest of the region (M&A, Construction, Anti-corruption and bribery, Competition, Commercial contracting, Disputes & Litigation, Employment, Post- Sales & Services Issues, etc.).
• Self-starter with outstanding exercise of judgment and able to work independently with minimum supervision.
• Strong communication skills to interact professionally and communicate with all levels of the organization.
• Organized and hard-working, ability to maintain focus while managing complex projects simultaneously in a fast-paced work environment and manage people and tasks to deadline.
• Proactive mindset and enthusiasm to build out strong relationships with senior leaders as a committed business partner.
• Very ethically driven – able to say “no” in the face of strong business pressure and comply with the law, company’s policies, and ethical standards.