Senior Director / Director, Head of Legal, North Asia

Explore the possibilities across our global house of brands.

Defined by inclusivity rather than exclusivity, Tapestry embraces the exploration of individuality and invests in helping you grow personally and professionally. Every individual in our global house has the opportunity to make an impact, learn and be part of our growing and unique story.

At Tapestry, we have the freedom to express ourselves and run with our best ideas across Coach and Kate Spade New York. We share a profound belief in both our individual and collective potential, and know that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.

About Tapestry

Make a Lasting Impression. Join Tapestry, the first New York-based house of modern luxury lifestyle brands. A successful career at Tapestry is built on hard work, determination and a genuine passion for what you do. At Tapestry, you are part of a global house of brands built around our shared values of optimism, innovation and inclusivity. We believe anyone from anywhere can have the best idea, and with creativity and perseverance, anything is possible.

Whether it be Coach, or Kate Spade, each of our great brands around the world helps people express themselves in their own unique ways.

Position Summary

The Head of Legal, North Asia (Senior Director / Director) is the senior legal leader for all brands (currently Coach and Kate Spade) under Tapestry Japan (TPRJ) and Coach Korea (CK).

The role leads the regional Legal function, including legal advice, contracts, IP enforcement and brand protection, compliance, privacy and information security, disputes and corporate governance.

The role reports to the VP, Associate General Counsel, APAC in the Tapestry Inc. (TPR) Law Department, with a dotted reporting line to the President, Coach North Asia. It serves as the principal legal advisor to the President and the Japan and Korea leadership teams and as the senior Legal partner for North Asia within the broader APAC and global Law Department. The

role proactively enables and represents North Asia business priorities, drives APAC and global Legal priorities into effective local execution, and applies sophisticated legal and commercial judgment to maximize Legal impact. The Head of Legal provides strong leadership and direction for Japan and Korea with appropriate autonomy and accountability, while maintaining alignment with Tapestry's Legal strategy, governance framework and ways of working.

The position is based in Tokyo and leads a team across Japan and Korea, including an in-house Legal counsel in Seoul (to be hired). Regular travel to Korea is expected.

Key Responsibilities

1. Business Partnership and Strategic Enablement

• Proactively partner with North Asia leadership to understand business priorities, anticipate legal and regulatory considerations, and develop practical solutions that support key business initiatives across Japan and Korea.
• Own the regional legal risk agenda, including the legal risk register, and report material risks, mitigation plans and program results to local leadership and the TPR Law Department.
• Ensure North Asia business realities, regulatory developments, legal requirements and risk perspectives are effectively represented in APAC and global Legal discussions.
• Engage Legal early in the decision cycle, frame legal issues in business terms, and provide clear, commercially grounded recommendations that enable informed decision-making and effective execution.

2. North Asia Legal Leadership and Execution

• Translate APAC and global Legal strategy and priorities into a clear North Asia agenda and practical execution plan aligned with Japan and Korea business objectives.
• Implement and operationalize Tapestry global and APAC Legal standards, policies, processes, templates and delegation of authority across Japan and Korea, adapting execution to local legal and business requirements where appropriate.
• Apply strong legal and commercial judgment to determine the most effective approach and level of Legal involvement for different matters, particularly significant contracts, strategic projects and complex or high-risk issues.
• Provide precise and timely guidance on Japan- and Korea-specific legal requirements, calibrate risk appropriately, and deploy the right expertise and resources to resolve issues effectively and efficiently while building capability across the team.

3. APAC and Global Legal Partnership

• Provide strong leadership and direction for Japan and Korea with appropriate autonomy and accountability, while operating within the APAC and global Legal strategy, governance framework and ways of working.
• Partner closely with the VP, Associate General Counsel, APAC and collaborate proactively with APAC and global Legal subject-matter experts and functional teams.
• Maintain appropriate visibility and escalate material, novel or sensitive issues as appropriate, while contributing actively to broader regional and global Legal initiatives.

4. Compliance, Privacy and Information Security Oversight

• Execute and support the ethics and hotline program for TPRJ and CK in coordination with the relevant APAC and global Legal and Compliance teams and lead local aspects of internal investigations with HR and the TPR Law Department.
• Oversee compliance with key Japanese and Korean laws, including consumer protection, advertising and premiums, specified commercial transactions, subcontracting, competition and anti-bribery requirements.
• Implement and manage the Japan and Korea privacy and data protection programs under the Japan and Korea privacy regulations, in coordination with the global Privacy Office, including Korea ISMS certification and personal data incident response.
• Ensure compliance and privacy training is delivered to store and office management, and that policies and controls remain current as regulations change.

5. Corporate Governance

• Oversee corporate governance for TPRJ and CK, including board and shareholder meetings, resolutions, minutes and commercial registry matters, with external advisors.
• Oversee company seal control, approval records and delegation of authority, and keep regional corporate policies aligned with Tapestry Inc. global policy.
• Advise local directors and officers on their duties, and support corporate transactions and entity changes as required.

6. IP Enforcement and Brand Protection

• Develop and execute the Japan and Korea brand protection plan in alignment with APAC Legal and Global IP priorities, recommending local enforcement priorities, budget and resource allocation based on market risks and business needs.
• Maintain senior relationships with Customs, police, Union des Fabricants, other brand protection partners, industry associations and regulators.
• Direct significant civil and criminal enforcement actions and coordinate the trademark and design portfolio strategy with global IP counsel.

7. Disputes, External Counsel and Budget

• Manage significant disputes, litigation, regulatory inquiries and government relations, and coordinate the response with the TPR Law Department and external counsel.
• Select and manage the regional panel of external counsel, including scope, fees and quality of work.
• Own the Legal budget and headcount plan for North Asia, and track spend against plan.
  

8. Team Leadership and Development

• Lead, coach and develop a team of legal professionals across Japan and Korea, including onboarding the new Korea-based Legal counsel, building succession, strengthening team capability and reducing key-person dependency.
• Set team objectives, allocate work across Japan and Korea, conduct performance reviews, and oversee the Legal Intern Program.
• Champion the adoption of legal technology and AI tools, such as contract lifecycle management, e-billing and generative AI assistants, to improve speed and quality.
  

Work Relationships

• Inside the company: VP, Associate General Counsel, APAC, Tapestry; President, Coach North Asia; GM, Coach Korea; Brand Director, Kate Spade Japan; Japan and Korea leadership teams; Operations, Retail, Marketing, Merchandising, Finance, HR, IT and other internal clients; and the Tapestry Inc. Law Department and global functions.
• Outside the company: law firms, Customs, police, regulators, Union des Fabricants, brand protection partners and industry bodies.

Education and Experience

• Law degree required; admission to the bar in Japan or another jurisdiction is strongly preferred.
• 15 or more years of legal experience, including significant in-house experience at a multinational company; experience in retail, luxury, consumer or fashion is a plus.
• At least 3 years of experience leading a legal team, including managing managers and developing talent.
• Experience advising senior executives and working with a global headquarters legal function; experience supporting Korea or the wider Asia-Pacific region is strongly preferred.

Skills

• Deep command of Japanese law, particularly company law, commercial and consumer law, data privacy and intellectual property, and a working understanding of the Korean legal environment.
• Sophisticated legal and commercial judgment to calibrate risk, determine the appropriate level of Legal involvement, and deploy the right expertise and resources for different matters.
• Demonstrated experience in corporate governance, compliance programs, privacy and brand protection.
• Native-level Japanese and business-level English are required; Korean is a plus.
• Ability to build and run a legal function, including budget, processes, external counsel and legal technology.

Competency

• Strategic leadership: enables North Asia business priorities, drives APAC and global Legal priorities into local execution, and anticipates legal and regulatory risk.
• Executive influence: earns trust with senior leaders, gives a clear point of view and communicates persuasively across cultures and levels.
• Develops talent: builds a strong, resilient team, delegates meaningful work and grows future leaders.
• Drives results: takes end-to-end ownership and delivers under competing demands.
• Enterprise collaboration: operates as an integrated member of the APAC and global Law Department, builds strong partnerships across Legal and business functions, and balances local needs with enterprise priorities.

Acts with integrity: holds the highest ethical standards and models them for the organization.

Our Competencies for All Employees
Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
 
Our Competencies for All People Managers
Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.    

Tapestry is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.

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