- External Seminars
AI Development and Business and Human Rights
- Date
- March 15, 2025
- Venue
- Online
Tokyo partner Junko Watanabe gave a presentation titled "AI Development and 'Business and Human Rights'" at the International Legal Ethics Symposium in Tokyo 2025 (ILEST2025), Law and Justice in the AI Era: Working with AI to Be a Better Lawyer, Part 3 of the Technology and Ethics in the Judicial Sphere series. The event was hosted by the Research Group on Professional Ethics for Lawyers and Bar Associations and co-sponsored by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, on March 15, 2025.


Based on her experience working on a wide range of domestic and international corporate matters including various matters in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries for more than seven years and overseas study and business experience in the UK for three years, she has been engaged in supporting Japanese companies in dealing with sustainability issues, while collaborating in various legal fields and jurisdictions including M&A, labour issues, European law and Asian law. She also has a strong ability to work with various stakeholders based on her experience working as an external collaborator for the International Labor Organization (ILO). She also advises Japanese companies in the area of Business and Human Rights.
She was also the lead in the development of the "Guideline for Responsible Business Conduct for the Textile and Clothing Industry of Japan" for human rights due diligence in the textile and apparel industry, which was formulated by the Japan Textile Federation in July 2022, as an external collaborator for the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In addition to serving as a member of various government study groups on human rights and environmental issues and as a member of the sustainability advisory board of a Japanese listed company, she has accepted numerous requests to be an instructor for in-house training, including executive training, and participated as a presenter in various seminars.
- Managing member of the Business and Human Rights Lawyers Network in Japan
- A member of the Advisory Mediation Committee of the Japan Center for Engagement and Remedies on Business and Human Rights (JaCER)
- Senior Advisor at the General Incorporated Association Chubu SDGs Promotion Center
- Business Human Rights (BHR) Committee/Human Rights Law Committee Member at the International Bar Association