This presentation aims to introduce the current legal needs, role and image of lawyers in Japanese corporate society. It also discusses the future of corporate in-house attorneys in Japan. Based on three surveys conducted by a research group at Osaka University, Associate Professor Fukui aims to clarify the reasons why Japanese corporations do not utilise lawyers for daily business activities, instead hiring in-house attorneys. Will this current tendency change? What factors could bring about this change? Associate Professor Fukui feels that the future for this trend in hiring in-house attorneys is promising and that it will change the Japanese corporate legal culture. Associate Professor Kota Fukui is a visiting Research Scholar at the Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. He is an Associate Professor of Law at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, Osaka University.