Kento Hirai
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Kento’s practice focuses on corporate M&A, labor and employment, and privacy work particularly in the health care and life sciences sectors.
Key Matters
Some of the experience represented below may have been handled at a previous firm.
Health care
- Conducted a Cabinet Office research project that involved handling medical and health information, including personal health records in foreign countries, including Finland, which involved analyzing Finnish laws and systems
- Advised a health care IT venture company on the promotion of medicinal products under the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act, personal information protection, and personal health records; offered guidance for its projects such as creating apps for patients using a particular drug by collaborating with a pharmaceutical company selling the medicine, utilizing anonymized personal information, developing a system to share personal health records among health care companies, and revising terms of use of its existing apps and services
- Provided legal support to an IT venture company on its proposed launch of an online orthodontics service to ensure compliance with medical regulations, including regulations relating to telemedicine, alliances with medical institutions, and advertising of medical services
- Advised a health care business subsidiary of a large trading company in Japan about starting up a self-medication business in compliance with the Pharmacists Act and the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations
- Provided support to a subsidiary of a listed IT company in launching and advertising its telemedicine service
- Advised a public entity and a consumer products company on genetic testing
- Provided a medical university with legal analysis with a focus on the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases, relating to the disclosure of electronic health records regarding COVID-19 patients to governments and research institutions
Corporate / M&A
- Advised a listed company on an indemnity issue resulting from a business transfer
- Provided legal support to a listed company on the business transfer of a mail-order business regarding health food products; conducted due diligence on privacy and compliance, analyzed legal issues like the personal information of consumers, and drafted relevant documents
- Provided legal support to several Japanese companies on M&A transactions and conducted due diligence on labor and employment issues
Labor and Employment
- Provided foreign-based companies with legal advice on a variety of matters, including employee dismissals for poor performance, bad behavior, or redundancy; revising work rules; and employee transfers due to organizational restructuring
- Represented a foreign-based company before a labor tribunal - and in litigation brought by an employee claiming an improper demotion
Intellectual Property
- Advised a consulting firm on the legal protection of databases, which comprise its trade secrets
- Advised an insurance company regarding the transfer of personal information to foreign reinsurance companies