Japanese legal experience a key in optimising the Japanese/Australian business relationship

Tokyo, 14 July 2004: Australian law firms are increasingly aware that employing lawyers with hands-on Japanese experience is an advantage in optimising Japanese business interests with Australia. This is the message being delivered in Tokyo to some of Japan's biggest corporates by one of Australia's leading energy and resources lawyers, Geoffrey Grice.

Mr Grice who spent 20 years practising in Asia, including a considerable period spent in Japan is in Tokyo for a series of meetings with major corporations advising them of the likely benefits that will flow from this changing approach by Australian legal practice.

"With the Japanese economy showing marked improvement the two countries are being once again reminded of their mutual interests," said Mr Grice. "For example the Australian energy and resources sector, along with tourism, has traditionally been a focus for investment by Japanese corporations. The resurgent economic conditions are buoying this. However negotiations may be impeded where the lawyers working on the deals don't properly understand the differing nuances of the two cultures.

"In some ways, however, Japan has more in common with Australia than with its other trading partners in the region. Both countries have well-developed legal systems and are in the same time zone. Also, there are similarities in approach to major deals. For instance, in both countries deal-making takes into account the fact that complex regulatory factors need to be resolved prior to commencing the deal. That is not the case elsewhere in Asia.

"Our similarities create tremendous synergy between Japan and Australia. For this reason and others, Australian law firms are increasingly aligning their Japan practices to the needs of their Japanese clients. At Clayton Utz, for instance, we have Japanese lawyers based in Perth and in Brisbane to service our Japanese clients not just for the domestic economy but also on their behalf in other parts of Asia.

"I firmly believe that Australian law firms deal with a complexity of legal issues not readily found elsewhere in this time zone. Our lawyers have a huge understanding of the energy and resources sectors; and they practice in large law firms with unparalleled depth in terms of experience and efficiency in terms of overheads. That gives us an enviable edge over international law firms in Asia, which tend to have only small offices with limited ability to specialise.

"Australian business and legal practice is forward looking and innovative. Combine that with our sound understanding of Japanese needs and you can see we are offering Japanese companies a dynamic mix and exciting business strategies.

"The Australian experience working on infrastructure projects with government through public-private partnerships (PPPs) would be one example, (and one where Clayton Utz is a leader). PPPs are an area in which Australia leads the world in many ways. We could equally talk about our work with liquid natural gas (LNG) and electricity projects in Australia and Asia which is extremely advanced. This are all areas of significant interest to corporate Japan."

These are messages according to Mr Grice that are highly exciting to the Japanese business sector. "They want to understand the innovative solutions that Australian lawyers have been offering within the Australian economy across a broad range of areas, such as competition law, intellectual property issues, and, more broadly, the whole energy and resources sector, particularly electricity."

Prior to his return to Perth Mr Grice was a noted banking and finance lawyer in the Asian region being involved in some of the regions more significant activity. For example just before coming to Clayton Utz Mr Grice represented Jupiter Telecom in Tokyo in its ¥140 billion project financing which closed in 2003.