Who is the right legal advisor for entrepreneurs?
LAWYERS are the ones we always think of the first to ask any kinds of legal questions, but they don’t always have the answers for your questions especially if that’s about visa procedures. Lawyers cover various kinds of law, but they sometimes don’t have expertise in completing all the procedures from collecting the right documents and submitting those to the right office.
Legal advisors ≠ Lawyers
Japanese legal system holds legal advisors with 士 (- shi).
Gyosei-sho-shi, Bengo-shi, Shiho-sho-shi, Benri-shi, Zeiri-shi …
They all took national exam and got certified, and each certificate gives them eligibility to do certain paperworks for administrative procedures.
The fee for lawyers is considerably expensive, while the other legal advisors sometimes have more knowledge and charge less. The below is the difference of expertise among the legal advisors.
行政書士 (Gyosei-sho-shi)
行政書士 is known as Administrative Scrivener. They are the one completing paperwork on behalf of their clients, and their field covers various paperworks from
- Construction License for constructors
- License to start a restaurant, bar or any kinds of business which requires permission
- License to start a beauty salon/hairdresser
- License to start a tourism business
to - writing and submitting visa application to Immigration Bureau.
弁護士 (Bengo-shi)
弁護士 is Lawyers. They cover most of the major laws and give us advise from various kinds of law perspective. When we create a contract for staff, the content at least includes 最低賃金法 (Minimum Wage Law), 労働関係調整法 (Labor Relations Adjustment Act), 労働基準法 (Labor Standards Act), and 労働契約法 (Labor Contract Act). Employers also need pay attentions to Civil Law and Companies Act to avoid any risks in relation with their employees. Lawyers give the best answer with tons of background knowledge.
司法書士 (Shiho-sho-shi)
司法書士 is known as Judicial Scriveners. Their expertise is somewhere between Lawyers and Administrative Scriveners. Judicial Scriveners can register a company (登記 Toki process) on behalf of business owners
(*Administrative Scriveners cannot register a company on behalf of their clients.)
Judicial Scriveners are specialized in small lawsuits (less than ¥1,400,000), naturalization of non-Japanese citizens, and the other procedures around inheritance and Toki (legal registration) process.
弁理士 (Benri-shi)
弁理士 is known as Patent Attorneys. When we invent/develop a new business, system, or product, we’d better get a patent to protect our intellectual property. Patent Attorneys help clients with all the paperworks to patents.
税理士 (Zeiri-shi)
税理士 is Tax Accountants. If we have a company, we all have to submit financial statement and pay tax to the Government. Tax Accountants help us with all the taxation procedures. Tax calculation gets complicated especially when we do import/export business with foreign countries. Tax Accountants can assist the tax calculation.
公認会計士 (Kounin-kaikei-shi)
公認会計士 is CPA — Certified Public Accountant. CPA helps, as you know, financial auditing and taxation.
社会保険労務士 (Shakai-hoken-roumu-shi)
社会保険労務士 (abbreviation: Sha-ro-shi) is known as Labor and Social Security Attorney. They are specialized in Labor Law and Social Insurance for employee. They are usually at Public Employment Security Office (known as Hello Work in Japanese) and Pension Office. Labor and Social Security Attorney can help creating Employment Regulation.
Seems like most of the entrepreneurs tend to go and ask Lawyers first to get information, but they ended up with not getting what they wanted.
Administrative Scriveners sometimes call themselves “Immigration Specialists” and help VISA procedures, but I’d say their expertise all depends on their practical experience.
Each legal advisor covers different legal field and procedures, and Japanese Laws specify what they can do, and cannot do. In addition, each of them have different expertise based on what they have done in the past. Some Administrative Scriveners are good at Visa procedures but the others aren’t, however the others are good at getting license to start a business.
My advise is:
carefully look at their practical experience
after figuring out which legal advisors have the answer to your question. The real experience is always the best lesson for us, and only knowledge and certification wouldn’t help us getting through all the law practice.
If you are not sure which legal advisors to ask, we can help finding the right one. For more questions, visit STARTUP JAPAN !
