Japan: Precautionary Measures for Law Firms against COVID-19

Atsumi & Sakai has established a special response team to address the risk posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), and is implementing countermeasures to avoid the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of our lawyers and staff.

The following preliminary measures are now in place:

Telework and Staggered Commuting Hours for Staff

• Starting from 2 March 2020, approximately half of our staff will work from home, while the other half will work from 10:45 to 16:30 to avoid commuting during rush hour.
• A recorded message will be played to callers to our main phone numbers outside of the abovementioned office hours (10:45 to 16:30).

Telework Recommendations for Lawyers

• We encourage our lawyers to work from home as much as possible.
• Lawyers are available to work at the office, if necessary.
• Lawyers are generally reachable via their direct phone number, mobile phone number and email as usual.
• Depending on how the COVID-19 epidemic develops, we may introduce additional measures in the future and will continue to update our website accordingly.

Finally, we encourage our colleagues working in law firms worldwide to consider implementing similar policies. Together, we can identify and assess the situation and the major risks to our staff, in order to propose the best alternatives and actions to mitigate any negative short-term and long-term effects. We hope you will join us in this effort!

For more information on these articles or any other issues involving labour and employment matters in Japan, please contact Tatsuo Yamashima (Partner) of Atsumi & Sakai at tatsuo.yamashima@aplaw.jp or visit www.aplaw.jp.