What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

During the FY 2025/3 period, the most significant Legal and IP work focused on the gaming business of the Sega Sammy Group. This included matters related to mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, intellectual property rights protection, dispute resolution, and litigation. Noteworthy public projects during this period included the acquisition of Stakelogic B.V., the company split of Paradise Segasammy Co., Ltd., and the expected acquisition of GAN Limited.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

We keep open and flexible minds to be able to respond quickly to any new needs or situations arising from economic/political/environmental changes surrounding our business. We hold regular dialogue with the business teams to be able to identify potential risk situations early and provide timely legal advice and support. We keep our knowledge of relevant laws and regulations up to date to anticipate issues and propose countermeasures in advance.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about? Why is this?

I have been and continue to be dedicated to transforming corporate legal functions into strategic business partners that deliver actionable advice and proactive insights. In today’s increasingly volatile and complex world, I believe legal professionals – equipped not only with legal expertise but also with analytical thinking and strong ethical standards – can play a pivotal role in guiding sound business decisions and driving sustainable growth.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?

Our in-house legal teams focus on providing day-to-day business support and advice, such as contract drafting/review and legal consultation, identifying potential significant legal risks and planning/preparing ahead to minimise those risks. We obtain support from external counsels often in case of high-risk/stakes or highly specialised matters such as M&A, litigation, new business, new law areas, matters involving government authorities, incidents involving external parties. We look for strong subject matter expertise, responsiveness (especially in time-sensitive matters), cost effectiveness and transparency, ability to develop creative solutions to meet the business needs in the external counsels we work with.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next five to ten years that companies should prepare for?

Global landscape of AI laws and regulations is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly complex. It is highly important for companies to keep up with the rapidly changing legal and regulatory environment and adjust business practices to identify and manage risks. This requires closely monitoring global legal developments, establishing internal AI governance frameworks, securing transparency and traceability in products/services development, and ensuring accountable and ethical AI design.