George Pierce

George Pierce is an Expert Consultant at Law & Forensics who brings something rare to the witness stand: a four-decade career spent as the legal conscience of a multinational enterprise, not as an outside observer of one. For 29 years at Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. he built and led the legal function from the ground up — establishing the company’s legal department, becoming its first General Counsel, and retiring in December 2022 as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary, before being named the company’s first Director Emeritus and Special Legal Counsel. That lived experience in the C-suite and the boardroom is what he carries into complex disputes as a testifying and consulting expert.

George’s authority in corporate governance is not theoretical. He served continuously on Toyota Tsusho America’s board of directors for 22 years and sat on the boards of several subsidiaries, and he built the governance and compliance frameworks that allowed a multinational organization — including numerous Japanese subsidiaries operating in the U.S. — to meet evolving global trade, data-privacy, and regulatory obligations. He pairs that record with a litigator’s foundation: twelve years at Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander and Ferdon representing Japanese corporations, Japanese-owned subsidiaries, and domestic companies in complex litigation, international trade, regulatory compliance, environmental insurance coverage, white-collar defense, labor and employment, and internal investigations.

What distinguishes George in cybersecurity is that he has done the work an expert is usually asked to evaluate. Working in conjunction with Law & Forensics, he established Toyota Tsusho America’s first cybersecurity program — selecting and supervising the company’s first Chief Information Security Officer, developing and implementing its first Cyber Security Incident Response Plan, preparing its Cyber Security Risk Register and Communication Guidelines, designing and running tabletop exercises tailored to the business activities of the company and its affiliates, and directing actual incident response and remediation. He applies that hands-on understanding to supply-chain cybersecurity, advising on third-party risk, security protocols, and regulatory compliance across international operations.

George’s judgment carries weight where it matters most — in sensitive internal investigations into compliance breaches, cybersecurity incidents, and governance failures, where he has worked across functions to reach thorough and objective resolutions in cross-border contexts. He is also a frequent teacher and speaker on these subjects, co-teaching sessions of Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Cyber Security Certificate Program and presenting on cybersecurity, labor and employment, multinational litigation, and the legal interplay between Japanese and U.S. practice before audiences including the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association’s International Section, the International Bar Association, the Practicing Law Institute, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and the Japan Society. Admitted in New York since 1982, he serves as Expert Consultant at Law & Forensics and as Special Counsel to Zeichner Ellman and Krause, where he focuses on the firm’s Litigation and Cyber Security practices.