We established the JILA In-house Legal Award(hereinafter referred to as "JILA Award") for in-house lawyers and their affiliated organizations in fiscal year 2023. The JILA Award recognizes in-house lawyers and affiliated organizations that have achieved remarkable results, based on applications from JILA members and through rigorous and fair selection by the selection committee.
We received applications from many organizations and in-house lawyers, which helped shine a spotlight on in-house lawyers and their affiliated organizations, enhancing their visibility and presence.
The JILA Award is held for the following purposes:
The 2024 JILA Award was featured in the Nikkei Newspaper and ASIA BUSINESS LAW JOURNAL, as well as on the JILA website.
https://law.asia/jila-in-house-legal-awards-winners-excellence/
This award recognizes affiliated organizations of in-house lawyers that have achieved outstanding results comprehensively. In addition to the general category, awards will be given based on specific evaluation criteria. To highlight many organizations, awards will be given in the general category and specific evaluation criteria categories for mega, large-scale, medium-scale, and small-scale divisions.
The evaluation criteria are as follows. For each criterion, the role of the legal department, demonstration of leadership, collaboration with business departments, and the degree of contribution of in-house lawyers will be considered:
→ Partner function (M&A, corporate reorganization, large-scale transactions, etc.)
→ Guardian function (regulatory compliance, misconduct response, compliance, corporate governance, internal controls, dispute resolution, etc.)
→ Innovation (legal operations, legal tech, initiatives in new business areas, etc.)
This award recognizes in-house lawyers who have achieved remarkable results for their affiliated organizations or industries comprehensively. In addition to the general category, awards will be given based on specific evaluation criteria. Depending on the applicant’s backgrounds, awards will be given in industry-specific categories, regional categories, and public servant lawyer categories.
All applications will be treated as entries for the general category, from which recipients will be selected for each division.
In fiscal year 2024, industry-specific, regional, and public servant lawyer categories were newly established.
The evaluation criteria are as follows. For each criterion, the role of the legal department, demonstration of leadership, and collaboration with business departments will be considered:
→ Partner function (M&A, corporate reorganization, large-scale transactions, etc.)
→ Guardian function (regulatory compliance, misconduct response, compliance, corporate governance, internal controls, dispute resolution, etc.)
→ Innovation (legal operations, legal tech, initiatives in new business areas, industry activities outside company duties, etc.)
Depending on the applicant’s backgrounds, in addition to the above awards, awards will be given in industry-specific, regional, and public servant lawyer categories. (Recipients will be selected from among applicants to the general category.) For industry-specific and public servant lawyer categories, awards will be given for every 1 to 10 JILA divisions.
To spotlight young and mid-career professionals, this award is limited to those with 15 years or less of experience as a registered attorney.
This award recognizes organizations that have significantly contributed to expanding the presence of in-house lawyers or corporate/government legal departments. Private companies, law firms, or lawyers are not eligible for this award.
Experts, as well as platinum sponsors and gold sponsors from JILA’s supporting organizations will serve as selection committee members.
Award recipients are determined based on the total score calculated from points assigned by the selection committee members for each evaluation criterion.
