There are several situations when the attorneys cannot handle a particular case. Below are some of the reasons.
We do not explain the specific reason for not taking the particular case.
We appreciate your understanding.
The attorneys are too busy at the moment.
We only have a limited number of attorneys and staffs, so if we have too many cases at the moment, we cannot take some of the new cases.
The case is not within the practice area of the Japanese attorneys (Bengoshi).
e.g. Japanese attorneys generally do not handle tax cases. We sometimes do work together with a tax accountant, but if the case is only about the tax, we do not handle the case.
The case is not within the practice area of our office.
We do not handle some cases which require expertise we do not have.
It is likely that the fee is too high for the case.
Our total fee for handling the lawsuit is usually 600,000 yen or more, even when the case is smaller than this amount. If we decide that the attorney fee will be too high compared to the amount of the case, we do not take the case.
The case is distant from our office.
Our office is in Kanagawa-ken (next to Tokyo). Generally, we don’t handle cases which are distant from our office. This is because it is usually cost-effective for the clients to find lawyers nearby, and also it is too much time consuming for the attorneys to handle the case. (We do not provide initial consultation over the phone.)
The case is too large or too complicated for our office.
We only have a limited number of attorneys, so if the case requires several attorneys to work on it, we cannot take the case.
When the client asks us to charge the fee to the other party.
In Japan, generally it is not possible to charge the attorney fee to the other party.
When the client asks to guarantee the outcome of the case.
Under the rules for Japanese attorneys, the attorneys are not allowed to guarantee the outcome of the case. So, we cannot handle the case when the client requests such as “I would like to proceed if the case will result in success.”
When there may be a conflict of interest.
We cannot introduce or recommend other attorneys (we have no information of attorneys who can support the actual case).
Just for your information, Japan Legal Support Center provides English telephone service.
Japan Legal Support Center
https://www.houterasu.or.jp/en/about_jlsc/consultation_service.html