MITSURU CLAIRE CHINO IS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF administrative officer, Itochu International Inc.; and former general counsel of Itochu Corp.

Chino graduated from Smith College and Cornell Law School. Earlier, she worked at Graham & James, where she started as a litigator in the Newport Beach, California, office, and also worked as a transactional lawyer in its Hong Kong, Tokyo and San Francisco offices. She was named general counsel of Itochu Corp. and worked in that post until March 2017.

The company, which is based in Tokyo, is a conglomerate and has seven business sectors: textiles, machinery, energy and chemicals, food, general merchandize, information and metals. It is also involved in finance, as well as being involved in business investment in Japan and other nations. It also has offices around the world and a subsidiary, which is headquartered in New York.

The company traces its founding to 1858 when Chubei Itoh started linen trading. It now has approximately 120 bases in 63 nations.

LEGAL TEAM: There are approximately 80 people in the legal division, with about 12 with administrative functions. They are mostly generalists. "Our legal division takes the approach that it is there to move businesses and transactions forward—the accelerator function—while keeping in mind that it also has a function to identify risks and to sometimes stop transactions from moving forward—if it is detrimental to the organization," Chino said.

While general counsel, she handled "large transactions giving significant impact to the company," she said. Chino enjoyed the role of general counsel, and noted that her "work brings solutions for the businesses. And I like the fact that our businesses are very diverse in industry area as well as geographically."

OUTSIDE COUNSEL: "We always outsource litigation/arbitration outside," Chino said. "Transactional work, routine work—sale and purchase agreements, distribution agreements, etc.—is handled in-house. More complex work—joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions—is outsourced, although the in-house members work very closely with the outside lawyers," Chino said.

The company works with a number of law firms, both Japanese, for domestic work, and international firms, for overseas transactions.

TYPICAL DAY: "The office environment is very collegial," Chino said. "I usually review the work of the general managers—under the GC, there are nine general managers, who manage their own teams." She often traveled to Hong Kong and New York.

PERSONAL: She is 51.

LAST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ATTENDED: She recently went to see the opera "Tale of Hoffman" by Jacques Offenbach.

WHAT KEEPS HER UP AT NIGHT: "Nothing at the moment," she said.

PRIORITIES AS GENERAL COUNSEL: "Keeping a good relationship with the colleagues and motivating them/challenging them," she said.

ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION: "The legal profession is an empowering profession for women because they can utilize their professional expertise," Chino explained. "I think there will be more women in the legal profession going forward."

GENERAL COUNSEL'S ROLE IN THE WIDER ORGANIZATION: According to Chino, the general counsel "not only assists business transactions for the business units, but advises management on wider management issues such as corporate governance."