Japan Desk

Our approach

What Japanese companies expect from legal advice is often not only the right answer, but that the answer be presented in a form that can be reported to headquarters. An opinion that the management team in Türkiye can explain to its head office together with its reasons; a record showing at which stage, by whom and by assuming which risk the decision was taken; a cost structure that contains no surprises.

We build our working method accordingly:

• We prepare our opinions in a form suitable for submission to headquarters, setting out the alternatives and the level of risk of each.
• We designate a single contact lawyer on each matter and preserve continuity when the team changes.
• On continuing matters we provide status reports at regular intervals and share the expected steps and the timetable in advance.
• On fees, we prefer a structure agreed at the outset and unchanged through the course of the matter.

Sector focus

These sectors are our priority, yet the firm practises across the law and is organised to meet every legal need of our Japanese clients in Türkiye.

• Automotive and the automotive supply industry. The firm has advised the automotive sector for more than ten years and works for Türkiye’s leading manufacturers and major players in the spare-parts industry. We know, from inside the practice, the legal dynamics of the relationship between Japanese original-equipment manufacturers and Turkish suppliers: the structure of supply contracts, long-term price and quality commitments, tooling and equipment investments, and recall liability.
• Machinery, heavy equipment and industrial production. Investment incentives, licensing, production permits and compliance with industrial legislation.
• Energy, infrastructure and construction. Project contracts, consortium structures, public-procurement processes, and legal support on projects financed by international financial institutions.
• Trading houses and distribution networks. Establishing distributorship, agency and dealership structures, and disputes arising from the termination of those relationships.
• Technology, electronics and chemicals. Licence and technology-transfer contracts, intellectual-property protection, product safety and compliance.

Our services

• Company formation in Türkiye, opening a liaison office or a branch, and the tax and corporate structuring of the investment
• Joint-venture and shareholders’ agreements, and managing the relationship with a local partner
• Mergers and acquisitions, legal due diligence and post-completion integration
• Drafting and negotiating supply, distribution, licence and services agreements
• Competition law: merger filings, analysis of vertical relationships, assessment of the use of market power in supplier relationships, and defence in investigations
• Personal-data protection: compliance programmes, intra-group transfers and structures for transfers abroad
• Employment law: collective relations, executive contracts, and work and residence permits for personnel seconded from Japan
• Customs, foreign trade, export controls and sanctions compliance
• Sustainability and supply-chain obligations, and adapting group policies to Turkish legislation
• Compliance programmes, internal investigations and the establishment of whistleblowing mechanisms
• Registration, protection and enforcement of intellectual and industrial property rights
• Acquisition, leasing and investment transactions in real estate
• Dispute resolution, litigation and arbitration
• Administrative applications and representation before regulatory authorities