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 transition 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-90s.

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 legal consultations previously conducted by legal counsel (the "Legal Counsel System") and enhance legal functions. The committee consists of about 10 lawyers belonging to the Mita Hoso-kai. Members are selected by a recommendation committee within the Mita Hoso-kai based on a request from the Juku, and are commissioned by the President after deliberation by the Executive Board. The term of office is two years, and reappointment is not prohibited (up to 20 years under current internal regulations). The primary purpose of the "LA Committee" is to "support and advise on practical responses to laws and systems related to the business of Keio University" (Mita Hoso-kai, ed., "Eighty Years of the Mita Hoso-kai," 2013). Today, various departments and locations, including affiliated schools and the university hospital, receive enthusiastic and dedicated cooperation and advice from the committee members.

While this introduction has been somewhat detailed, this "LA Committee" system actually 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 take the activities and achievements of the "LA Committee" as a premise, and while collaborating with it, to promote the overall coordination and smoothing of legal functions from the perspective of Keio University as a whole.

In October 2021, under President Kohei Itoh, the Keio University leadership announced the "Policy for Formulating the Keio University Action Plan 2021–2025," which advocated for the "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 the intention to "establish a specialized section to centrally manage legal responses that have been handled by various departments within Keio (including affiliated schools), aiming to improve legal management and enhance response capabilities," as well as to "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 first shared regarding the increasing trend, complexity, and diversification of legal cases at the Juku in recent years. 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 Schools Act—including the review of internal rules and regulations, was pointed out, as was the necessity for legal responses aligned with globalization. Expectations were also placed on functions to avoid troubles in advance (preventive legal affairs) through the strengthening of legal check systems for intellectual property, security export control, and research contracts, as well as compliance development and various internal notifications, training, and awareness-raising from a legal perspective, rather than just legal affairs for litigation (clinical legal affairs). Naturally, legal cases related to the planning and launch of new university-originated businesses are expected to increase, and deliberations and information gathering 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 duties (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/division of labor with other departments in charge. This is the reason why the Office of Legal Affairs was required as an independent specialized department within the corporation.

Regarding the characteristics of the Keio University Office of Legal Affairs, the most notable is that it employs two in-house lawyers (one full-time and one part-time). Since April of this year, attorney Takashi Ushijima (1989, Faculty of Law) and attorney Makoto Morioka (1996, Faculty of Law) have assumed office 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 clerks (one full-time, one contract), and perform 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 a special note that the appointment of Mr. Morioka, who was particularly active as an "LA Committee Member (Vice-Chairman of the Committee)," as in-house counsel was made possible through the exceptional consideration of the "LA Committee" led by Chairman Kazuo Suzuki. Furthermore, the Office of Legal Affairs has received much warm understanding and guidance from practitioners belonging to the Mita Hoso-kai since the preparation stage of its establishment. 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 1st floor of the Graduate School Building on the Mita Campus (scheduled to move to the 1st 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 scholarship 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 missions required by the Juku.

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