Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu (“NO&T”), we have established the NO&T Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Policy for two purposes: to provide the highest quality legal services through the collective strength of our lawyers and staff from diverse backgrounds, and to help build a society that values diversity.

In today’s rapidly changing and increasingly complex society, we believe that in order to fulfill our core philosophy of providing the highest quality legal services, it is essential for us to actively welcome professionals from diverse backgrounds and to foster an environment of effective collaboration while ensuring mutual respect for differing opinions and perspectives.

Accordingly, we are committed to fostering a firm culture in which all members are treated with dignity, respect, and inclusion, regardless of age, nationality, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, beliefs, religion, values, lifestyle, gender, or other personal characteristics. We are also committed to creating an environment in which our members can thrive and reach their full potential. By actively promoting Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, we aim to build an organization where our members can grow and succeed as professionals and as members of society, while remaining true to themselves.

We have established a Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Committee as a dedicated body to promote DE&I firmwide. The DE&I Committee reviews and implements initiatives designed to promote DE&I.

We have introduced various support systems to enable members with diverse lifestyles to work flexibly in accordance with their individual circumstances. We also continually foster an environment where these systems are readily accessible to all members, regardless of gender.

• We offer flexible work arrangements, including reduced working hours and telecommuting, to lawyers and staff with childcare or eldercare responsibilities or other personal obligations, thereby supporting them in balancing such obligations with their work.
• Both men and women take childcare leave.
• We have entered into corporate agreements with babysitting services that provide childcare, including services for sick children, to help members balance childcare and work.
• We have established a mentoring program for lawyers, which serves as a forum for informal consultation and information sharing on topics such as balancing work and parenting as well as career development.

As part of our efforts to promote gender diversity, we have introduced a system to support the smooth return of lawyers and staff from maternity and parental leave, and we also provide training and other support to assist with career development.

In particular, in order to support the career development of women lawyers and foster an environment in which they can reach their full potential, we are undertaking a number of initiatives, such as providing unconscious bias training to partners, providing useful career-related information to associates through seminars and sharing the experiences of senior colleagues, and offering a variety of career path options within the firm.

We aim to create an organization in which all members can fully live and work as themselves, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. To this end, we undertake various LGBTQ+ initiatives both internally and externally.

• We treat same-sex partners as equivalent to legal spouses for the purposes of benefits such as congratulatory and condolence payments, bereavement leave, and parental leave.
• We invite outside experts to provide training and other initiatives to promote greater understanding of LGBTQ+ issues.
• We designate June as NO&T PRIDE Month every year and conduct awareness-raising activities such as displaying rainbow-colored floral arrangements and setting up an LGBTQ+ book corner within the firm.
• We host roundtable discussions, share LGBTQ+ resources via our intranet, and encourage engagement through initiatives such as the ongoing recruitment of LGBTQ+ allies and the establishment of a dedicated chat room to facilitate communication among allies.
• We provide ongoing support for the activities of the “Legal Professionals Network for LGBTQ and Allies.”

In recognition of these efforts, the firm received a “Gold” ranking in the 2024 PRIDE Index of ‘work with Pride,’ a general incorporated association that supports the promotion and establishment of diversity management related to LGBTQ+ and other sexual minorities. For details, please click here.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive work environment in which all members, regardless of disability status, can thrive by leveraging their strengths. This includes creating flexible roles that are not limited by narrowly defined job duties and responsibilities as part of our efforts to support the employment of individuals with disabilities.

We are committed to creating a workplace in which people of all races, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds can contribute and thrive.
We have offices and locations in seven countries and eight cities, including Tokyo, Japan. Each office and location has lawyers and staff from diverse national and cultural backgrounds. We offer cross-office training opportunities for Tokyo office personnel to train overseas and for overseas office personnel to train in our Tokyo office, thereby deepening mutual understanding and fostering collaboration.

Our “members” are our most valuable assets. We believe that our firm’s core philosophy of providing the highest quality legal services through collaboration among our members can only be realized when each member is able to work with a sense of purpose and fulfillment. We are therefore committed to fostering a workplace in which all members can maintain good physical and mental health, find meaning in their work, and experience a genuine sense of fulfillment and well-being.