Anderson Mori & Tomotsune ("AMT") is a full-service, multidisciplinary law firm offering legal advice and services to many clients and potential clients on a wide variety of cases and projects. As such, we occasionally encounter an ethical conflict of interest issues in connection with our existing and potential client engagements.

In particular, we are requested with increasing frequency to advise on large, complex matters involving a broad spectrum of legal issues. For these assignments, we typically form teams of lawyers and other legal specialists who contribute relevant legal expertise accumulated through prior experience. From time to time, a client’s request for advice on a particular matter might pose a conflict with the interests of a different client. In addition, due to changes in circumstances, a client matter in which no conflict of interest issue initially existed could give rise to subsequent potential conflict concerns.

AMT strictly complies with its legal and ethical obligations regarding conflicts of interest, including those under the Attorney Act of Japan and the Basic Rules on the Duties of Practicing Attorneys set out by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. By so doing, we maintain professional fairness in providing legal services and discharging our duties to all of our clients.

Further, to promptly identify, address and resolve any conflict issues, AMT has established a system of internal rules and information security measures, which includes the following features:

• Prior to accepting a request from a client for legal services on a particular matter, we perform a thorough and strictly internal and confidential check to determine whether any conflict might exist with our firm’s representation of another client.
• Where appropriate, we erect an information firewall to ensure that our lawyers and other legal staff working on one client matter, will neither be assigned to, nor have unrestricted access to information of, another client matter for which a conflict issue exists.
• We conduct periodic compliance training for our legal staff to educate them on the importance of handling client conflict issues carefully, and preserving client confidentiality.
• We periodically review, update and improve our conflict procedures, rules and measures.

In short, we strive to maintain the highest level of care regarding conflict of interest issues.

Should you have any questions, please contact the AMT partner handling your relevant client matter of concern.