In Japan, a seismic shift is occurring in the balance of power between law firms and in-house legal departments.

The titans of Japan’s major global companies, who for years had managed to make their brands household names worldwide without bothering to establish large legal departments, are now actively expanding their in-house legal teams. With Japan’s big-name corporations having repeatedly faced allegations of corruption in recent years, their leaders are recognizing the value of a strong in-house legal department in a world that is quite different from traditionally non-litigious Japan.