Establishment of the Office of Legal Affairs

On April 1, 2023, the Office of Legal Affairs was established at Keio University. In the history of the Juku dating back to 1858, this is the first time a department dedicated exclusively to legal affairs has been opened.

There is a useful book for tracing the transitions of the Juku's corporate organization. It is titled "Jukukan-kyoku Shoshi" (A Brief History of the Jukukan-kyoku), the first volume of which was published in 1960 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Juku. However, descriptions related to legal affairs first appear in the third volume, published in 2018. In the section on "Crisis Management Systems and Legal Response," it is noted that the "Legal Advisory Committee" (hereinafter referred to as the "LA Committee") was launched in 2000 as part of the progress in developing Keio University's crisis management system since the mid-1990s (ibid.).

This "LA Committee" was realized with the full cooperation of the Mita Hoso-kai (Mita Bar Association), following the Juku's intention at the time to organize the existing legal consultation provided by corporate lawyers (the "Corporate Lawyer System") and enhance legal functions. The committee consists of approximately 10 lawyers belonging to the Mita Hoso-kai. Members are selected by a recommendation committee within the Mita Hoso-kai based on requests from the Juku, and are commissioned by the President after deliberation by the Keio University Executive Board. The term of office is two years, and reappointment is not prohibited (up to 20 years under current internal regulations). The primary objective of the "LA Committee" is to "support and advise on practical responses to laws and systems related to the operations of Keio University" (Mita Hoso-kai, ed., "Eighty Years of the Mita Hoso-kai," 2013). Today, various departments and locations across the Juku, including affiliated schools and the university hospital, receive enthusiastic and dedicated cooperation and advice from the members of this committee.

While this introduction has been somewhat detailed, it was actually this "LA Committee" system that served as an important springboard for the establishment of the Office of Legal Affairs. The committee, now in its 23rd year since its inception, will continue its activities even after the opening of the Office of Legal Affairs. One of the purposes of establishing the Office of Legal Affairs is to use the activities and achievements of the "LA Committee" as a premise, and while collaborating with it, to promote the overall coordination and facilitation of legal functions from the perspective of the entire Juku.

In October 2021, under President Kohei Itoh, the Keio University leadership announced the "Policy for Formulating the Keio University Action Plan 2021–2025," citing "improvement of legal management and enhancement of response capabilities" as one of the priority items for developing the operational foundation. The subsequent "Medium-Term Plan 2021–2025" declared that the Juku would "establish a specialized section to centrally manage legal responses previously handled by various departments within Keio (including affiliated schools), aiming to improve legal management and enhance response capabilities," as well as "improve the effectiveness of governance in response to legislative changes." Following the "FY2022 Business Plan," preparations for the realization of the Office of Legal Affairs finally began.

In discussions leading to the establishment of the Office of Legal Affairs, reports were shared regarding the recent increasing trend, complexity, and diversification of legal matters at the Juku. Furthermore, the need for professional expertise to handle internal responses to recent amendments and enactments of important laws—such as the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and the Private School Act—including the review of internal rules and regulations, was pointed out, along with the necessity for legal responses suited to globalization. Beyond litigation-related legal work (clinical legal affairs), the office was also expected to function in preventing troubles before they occur (preventive legal affairs) through the development of compliance, various internal notifications, training, and awareness-raising from a legal perspective, as well as strengthening legal check systems for intellectual property, security export control, and research contracts. Naturally, legal matters related to the planning and launching of new university-originated businesses are expected to increase, and information gathering and deliberation for organizational restructuring and business reorganization will likely become even more active (strategic legal affairs).

The duties to be undertaken by the new Office of Legal Affairs must involve not only the reorganization of existing tasks (those previously under the jurisdiction of the legal staff in the Administrative Affairs Office) but also functions and roles that far exceed previous frameworks in terms of agility, proactivity, and comprehensiveness in information consolidation and coordination with other departments. This is why the Office of Legal Affairs was required as an independent specialized department within the corporation.

A key feature of the Keio University Office of Legal Affairs is that it employs two in-house lawyers (one full-time and one part-time). Since April of this year, attorney Takashi Ushijima (2009 Faculty of Law) and attorney Makoto Morioka (1996 Faculty of Law) have assumed these roles as full-time and part-time in-house counsel, respectively. Both are excellent practitioners highly recommended by the Mita Hoso-kai. They are supported by administrative staff, including a director, a manager, and two clerks (one full-time and one contract worker), performing legal duties under the supervision of the Vice-President in charge of legal affairs. Additionally, as the Office of Legal Affairs is positioned within the "Keio University Jukukan-kyoku Organization," it does not have independent organizational regulations.

I would like to make special mention of the exceptional consideration shown by the LA Committee, led by Chairman Kazuo Suzuki, regarding the appointment of Mr. Morioka—who had been particularly active as an "LA Committee Member (and Vice-Chairman of the committee)"—as in-house counsel. Furthermore, from the preparation stage of the establishment, the Office of Legal Affairs has received much warm understanding and guidance from practitioners belonging to the Mita Hoso-kai. I would like to express my gratitude here. I should also add that the administrative management of the "LA Committee" has been transferred from the Administrative Affairs Office (Legal Affairs) to the Office of Legal Affairs.

Currently, in-house lawyers are stationed in the Office of Legal Affairs room located on the first floor of the Graduate School Building on the Mita Campus (scheduled to move to the first floor of the Jukukan-kyoku this autumn), where they handle cases and inquiries arriving from various departments within Keio at any time. Meanwhile, expectations from various quarters for this new institution are high. Reflecting on how Yukichi Fukuzawa once cited law and learning as the essentials for maintaining human social intercourse ("Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)," Chapter 9), the Office of Legal Affairs intends to steadily make plans and move forward to fulfill the mission required by the Juku.

I would like to ask for the support of all members of the Keio Gijuku Shachu.