Support for the Criminal Justice Exploration Program for Middle and High School Students Hosted by the Legal Education Support Association

His main practice area is corporate crisis management and litigation. He is also highly knowledgeable and experienced on matters involving foreign investigations and regulatory authorities. He has dealt with many cases in relation to investigations by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, the Japanese Public Prosecutor’s Office, etc., as well as foreign authorities such as the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also dealt with a variety of cases such as misconduct by executives and employees, violation of environmental regulations, violation of the regulation regarding pharmaceutical and medical equipment, etc. In addition to cases that require emergency responses, he has advised many companies to build effective whistleblowing systems and anti-bribery compliance programs, and he has assisted with due diligence procedures from a compliance perspective.

In his career as a judge, Ichita Matsunaga has worked in several district courts such as the Tokyo District Court and the Sapporo District Court. In those courts he handled wide range of civil cases such as corporate disputes, labor disputes, and other various cases for damages as well as administrative cases including tax disputes and disputes related to financial products. When he worked for the Secretariat of the Supreme Court, he handled judicial administrative affairs regarding intellectual property disputes and was in charge of preparatory work for the digitalization of civil proceedings. While working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was in charge of international cooperation on counter terrorism, counter transnational organized crime and anti-corruption as well as domestic implementation of those matters. He also handled domestic implementation of the recommendations developed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). While working for the Sapporo District Court, he gave a lecture on civil procedure and practice at Hokkaido University Law School as visiting professor.

Yusuke Suzuki has extensive experience in handling corporate crisis management matters across a variety of industries and legal disciplines.
The wide array of corporate scandals he has handled involve issues such as bribery, bid-rigging/cartels, violations of the Subcontracting Law, quality fraud, trade secret infringement/information leaks, accounting irregularities, insider trading, harassment, and industrial accidents; when dealing with such complex matters, he draws upon his experience as a news reporter to strategically collaborate with not only legal and compliance departments, but also public relations departments.
In the area of crisis communication, his comprehensive support covers timely disclosures, preparation of releases, preparation of anticipatory questions and answers, advising on media responses (individual interviews, press conferences, background briefings, etc.), and advising on countermeasures against slanderous remarks found on the Internet and SNS. On a frequent basis, he provides a wide range of advice, including on the development of crisis management public relations manuals and misconduct publicity standards, mock press conference training, and legal checks of public-relations-related tasks.
When carrying out fact-finding and cause analysis of corporate scandals, Yusuke Suzuki applies his journalistic perspective to go beyond superficial cause analysis and delve into the “real causes,” such as the industry structure and organizational climate. He then takes the lead in the planning and implementation of various measures, such as internal and external messages from top management, formulation of corporate philosophies, workshops for different levels of management, and employee awareness surveys, in order to ensure the effective implementation of recurrence prevention measures, which often involve making changes to the organizational climate and the awareness of executives and employees.
In addition to his proven track record of success in handling legal cases, Yusuke Suzuki also regularly delivers seminars and publishes writings on crisis management with respect to both contingency and peacetime situations. He is widely known for his original and practical seminars and his hands-on, in-house training programs on crisis communication and organizational climate reform.