Our International Activities
The Daini Tokyo Bar Association's diverse international activities are led by the International Committee.
The principal missions of our International Committee are (i) advancing research on international legal issues, (ii) promoting and facilitating interaction with the international legal community including through formal friendships with numerous bar associations overseas, and (iii) participating in the evaluation of the qualifications of applicants for registration as foreign lawyers in Japan (gaikokuho jimu bengoshi).
Our International Committee seeks to accomplish its principal missions through a wide range of activities, including the followings:
(a) acting as the primary point of contact for communications with the international legal community including with fellow bar association counterparts overseas;
(b) organizing topical seminars on a variety of international legal issues;
(c) participating in the collaborative assessment of applicants for registration as foreign lawyers in Japan;
(d) supporting initiatives to increase and enhance opportunities for inbound investment into Japan and outbound investment by Japanese companies;
(e) providing multi-lingual legal consultation services for foreigners at the Immigration Bureau; and
(f) publishing and distributing pertinent information to bar association members as well as to the general public regarding the law and the legal profession.
As a part of the International Committee's mission to promote and facilitate interaction with the international legal community, we have represented the Daini Tokyo Bar Association in entering into friendship agreements with the following fellow local bar associations overseas: the Seoul Bar Association, the Taipei Bar Association, The Law Society of Singapore, the Ordre des Avocats de Paris, the Ordre des Avocats au Barreau de Toulouse, The Bar Ho Chi Minh City, the Association of Mongolian Advocates and the Shenzhen Lawyers Association. In order to further nurture these friendships, our International Committee has successfully organized annual reciprocal visits with the Seoul Bar Association and the Taipei Bar Association respectively to engage in face-to-face meetings and exchange opinions and expertise in person with the leaders of these bar associations.
Another joint initiative of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association and the Taipei Bar Association that is being led by our International Committee is the implementation of the "Cooperative Foreign Lawyer Referral Project" in 2018, under which the two bar associations exchange lists of lawyers for referral who are suitable candidates for particular categories of legal matters that may arise in their respective jurisdictions.
In addition to fostering friendships with fellow local bar associations overseas, our International Committee also strongly encourages and supports individual members of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association (including by providing financial support) to travel to and attend, whether as speakers or delegates, international legal conferences held all over the world, including the annual conferences hosted by the International Bar Association (IBA), LAWASIA, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) and the American Bar Association (ABA). Our International Committee is also actively involved in providing on-the-ground organizational support when such international conferences are held in Tokyo.
In the pursuit of our mission to advance research on international legal issues, every year our International Committee, together with our contemporaries who represent two other bar associations in Tokyo, organizes an "International Seminar" at which preeminent legal practitioners from around the world are invited to lecture on cutting-edge legal issues such as the international protection of personal information (in 2015) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) (in 2016) in an open forum that allows for lively and thought-provoking discussions among members of all three Tokyo bar associations including our Daini Tokyo Bar Association. Our International Committee also provides our Daini Tokyo Bar Association members as well as the general public with a diverse range of opportunities to become more familiar with various international legal practices including, for example, by arranging open seminars in collaboration with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) on cross-border investment or by implementing training sessions on various immigration procedures imposed by the Immigration Bureau.
Lastly, as a final example of the strong commitment of our International Committee to the paramount goal of our principal missions, which is ensure that all our lawyers approach the law and the legal profession with an international mindset, we have represented the Daini Tokyo Bar Association in its conclusion of mutual cooperative agreements with the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (located in San Francisco) and the Renmin University of China Law School (located in Beijing). Under these agreements, the Daini Tokyo Bar Association provides our members with the opportunity to study at prestigious foreign law school and reciprocally takes care of the exchange students who are sent by these law schools to study in Japan.