Christopher Clay
Chris is a US-trained litigation and investigations attorney and is fluent in Japanese.
Chris advises clients on litigation, internal and government investigations, regulatory inquiries, crisis management matters and civil and criminal enforcement actions before a wide range of authorities in the US, Europe, Japan and across Asia.
He began his career as a commercial litigator in the US and has extensive in-house experience at the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in both New York and Tokyo.
Chris has broad experience in commercial litigation matters and class action litigation. As a white collar defence and investigations attorney, he is deeply experienced in financial crimes matters involving economic sanctions, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and corruption, export violations, antitrust and competition law, markets conduct, and other regulatory areas.
Chris has handled matters across a wide range of industries, including financial services, professional services, manufacturing, technology, energy, life sciences, defence contracting and trading firms. He is fluent in Japanese.
Experience & capabilities
Selected matters
- handled more than 30 cross-border regulatory investigations for a major US corporation related to its business practices in Japan, China, India, Indonesia and other countries in APAC
- Represented a major Japanese bank in litigation involving whistleblowing and retaliation claims
- represented a Japanese company during a corruption inquiry in Indonesia
- represented a US company in an anti-trust investigation in India
- represented a European life sciences company on matters implicating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act
- originated dawn-raid policies for a global energy firm
Sectors
Background
Chris graduated with a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Dartmouth College and a juris doctor degree from Boston College Law School. Before attending law school, he earned a doctorate in Japanese literature from Yale University, where he wrote his dissertation on the novels of Natsume Soseki.
Chris is licensed in New York and is a registered foreign lawyer in England and Wales. He is also a Registered Foreign Lawyer (Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi) in Japan.
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