A  streamlining of the process for registering foreign lawyers in Japan has been welcomed by the Law Society of England and Wales and the UK government.

From today, the amount of paperwork law firms must submit to the Japanese Ministry of Justice (JMOJ) for foreign lawyers to be registered to practise their home law in Japan has been reduced.

Although the Law Society conceded in a briefing that the rule changes make the registration process only “slightly easier”, its president, Nick Emmerson, who visited Japan in April to lobby for the changes, said they were “a positive reflection of the Japanese government’s broader desire to attract more foreign direct investment and highly-skilled talent to its domestic market”.

As of April 2021, there were just 448 registered foreign lawyers in Japan, a figure the Law Society principally puts down to the “lengthy” registration process.

Under the new rules law firms can now re-use an array of documents that are needed to support an application so long as they are up to date. It will also become possible for previously registered foreign lawyers to re-apply without having to start the process from scratch. 

Welcoming the changes, which he said would benefit all international law firms operating in Japan, Simon Collins, a Tokyo-based asset finance partner at Watson Farley & Williams, thanked the Law Society and UK government for their efforts to improve the registration process.

He added that he hoped discussions between the UK and Japan would continue “so that further improvements to this process can be made”. 

UK trade minister Douglas Alexander said: “Delivering economic growth is this government’s top priority and unblocking these kinds of barriers to trade is part of our strategy to do that. By making it easier for our world-class services sector to sell their expertise around the world we can create more opportunities for UK businesses and deliver that growth.” 

In 2021, leading Japanese firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune set up a foreign law joint enterprise to allow its foreign lawyers to enjoy partner status. 

It joined several international law firms, including Clifford Chance, Paul Hastings and Baker McKenzie, which use the joint enterprise vehicle to ally with local lawyers – or bengoshi – to provide local law advice.