Laurence Bates is Director, Managing Executive Officer, General Counsel, Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for Panasonic Corporation. Laurence joined Panasonic in 2018 and has overall responsibility for Panasonic's legal affairs globally - including Japan - and oversees an organization of over 500 people. He is fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Laurence Bates was originally admitted to the New York Bar in 1987, starting his career with the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He has since spent the last three decades working in the legal profession in Japan, China and Hong Kong. He previously spent 4 years at LIXIL Group Corporation in Tokyo as Senior Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer. At GE, where he spent 22 years of his career, he served in key legal leadership positions in Asia, including as General Counsel for each of GE Medical Systems Asia, GE Capital Japan and GE Japan. He is a strong advocate for the interests of the international business community in Japan and served in various leadership positions at the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, including six years as a member of the Board of Governors, and as President in 2013. He received his BA from Yale University, with a dual major in Chinese Studies and Economics, and JD from Harvard Law School. He spent time at Tokyo University as a recipient of the Fulbright Senior Professional Research Grant and was a Yale-China Teaching Fellow at Wuhan University, China.