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Lawyer on Air

By: Catherine O'Connell
  • Summary

  • Lawyer on Air - where I pour you a glass of wine at my favorite virtual wine bar in Tokyo while you listen to inspirational inside stories from my guests, as we relax and talk about what it’s like in life, and in the law, for women lawyers in Japan.
    Catherine O'Connell
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Episodes
  • Making Partner in a Big Four Japanese Law Firm with Madoka Shimada
    Mar 17 2024

    Madoka Shimada is Partner at Nishimura and Asahi, one of the “Big Four” law firms in Japan. You might have heard some things about what it’s like to work there but Madoka shares some of the innovations and how she has carved out a unique career for herself with her interesting combination of qualifications.

    If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would leave us a message here!

    In this episode you’ll hear:

    • What inspired Madoka to look into the law as a career

    • How she took on an unusual study path in the US

    • What it’s like to be a partner in Nishimura and Asahi today

    • Her favourite book and other fun facts

    About Madoka

    Madoka is a Partner in the Tokyo office of Nishimura & Asahi.

    She focuses on the antitrust and competition law area, providing a broad range of advice in the field of competition law, with a wealth of experience in, among other things, cross-border transactions. Madoka also has strength in trade secret cases.

    Madoka advises clients on various matters of competition law, including domestic and international cartels, bid-rigging, M&A transactions, investigations by the JFTC, leniency applications and general antitrust law compliance. She is especially active in cross-border transactions.

    Prior to N&A, from 1999 – 2004 Madoka was with Mitsui, Yasuda, Wani & Maeda. Madoka graduated in 2005 from Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (M.P.A.)

    2003, Harvard Law School (LL.M.), in 1997, and The University of Tokyo (LL.B.)

    Madoka serves as a member of one of the committees in the firm which has the role of planning various measures of training associates, coordinating their working environment, etc. D&I perspective, such as the introduction of paid childcare leave, is included in this function. She also serves as the head of the Editorial Board of N&A “Thought Leadership,” which is a new style of newsletters of the firm. Outside of the firm she serves on the Children’s’ Rights Committee at Daini Bar Association, as a consultee for kids at SNS consultation (once a month, using LINE).

    Madoka is a mom of two teenage boys, joining a PTA activity for younger son, as an editor of the newsletter of the school. In her spare time, she goes to the theatre regularly and is a fan of musicals following from her passion at junior and senior high school where she was a member of the music club.


    Connect with Madoka

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madoka-shimada-8151382/

    Website: https://www.nishimura.com/en/people/madoka-shimada


    Links

    Toraya: https://www.toraya-group.co.jp/shops/shop-5

    Seven Women Lawyers 7人の女弁護士:Amazon Prime

    Invisible Women: https://amzn.asia/d/eaOxoyl


    Connect with Catherine

    Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair

    YouTube: https://youtube.com/@lawyeronair


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    51 mins
  • Bridging Borders: The Diplomatic Lawyer in Japan with Kaori Oka
    Mar 3 2024

    From her early days of wanting to be a diplomat and instead becoming a lawyer, Kaori Oka is now the diplomatic founder of Oka Fortuna Law, a law firm based in Tokyo. We follow Kaori’s exciting career path and see how time and time again she created and asked for opportunities to have the experiences she wanted not only in her career but also in her life. Kaori will surprise you with some fantastic insights into starting your own firm and being recommended for board positions.

    If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would leave us a message here!

    In this episode you’ll hear:

    • What happened when Kaori attended the final interview for the Foreign Affairs department

    • How Kaori created her own opportunity for a secondment and international work experience

    • Kaori's advice on maintaining connections along the way of your career path

    • Her two favourite sayings that guide her, something that you don't know about her and what she's most looking forward to in 2024.

    About Kaori

    Kaori Oka is the founder of OKA FORTUNA LAW, a law firm based in Tokyo, Japan.

    Kaori graduated from Tokyo University with an LLB and started her career in 2006 at Bingham McCutchen LLP, Tokyo office, being in charge of global M&A and high-impact cartel cases.

    She then moved to Iwata Godo in 2010, seeing her mission as pushing forward Iwata Godo’s international practice, which was still very small at that time. As part of that, Kaori was seconded to HKIAC, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, and also seconded to two US law firms, Steptoe & Johnson, and Baker & Miller PLLC, both based in Washington DC to develop relationships with firms and organizations overseas.

    Becoming a partner, and also satisfied to see the success of Iwata Godo in the international practice arena, she then moved to Deloitte Legal, Japan in 2016. There were only 5 lawyers at that time and Kaori fully enjoyed her role to develop Deloitte Legal Japan’s business and enhance the presence of Japan legal to Deloitte’s network.

    In July 2023, Kaori opened her solo practice in Tokyo to devote her passion to helping foreign clients succeed in their business in Japan. Her expertise is general corporate, cross-border M&A and reorganization schemes and commercial transactions.

    She is also a Supervisory Board Member at Maruwn Corporation and is nominated in two other listed companies in 2024 for similar positions.

    Kaori enjoys her life by mountaineering, hiking, traveling, jogging, jazz, and 30 minute daily meditation. On top of that, she is a huge fan of dogs and is planning to get one this year, finally!


    Connect with Kaori

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaorioka/


    Links

    ビストロヌガ Bistro Le Nougat https://www.lenougat.jp/


    Connect with Catherine

    Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair

    YouTube: https://youtube.com/@lawyeronair

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    1 hr
  • Exploring Legal Ops in Japan: An inspiring career path in law and tech with Vivien Clancy
    Feb 18 2024

    Vivien Clancy has a wealth of experience in the legal operations space which she brings to her current position in the Tokyo office of Herbert Smith Freehills. Vivien’s adventures and zest for life have all contributed to her fascinating career experiences. It goes to show that all experiences lead you to that next iteration of your career. If you are considering a legal operations role and wondering where to start, then this is the episode for you.

    If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would leave us a message here!

    In this episode you’ll hear:

    • How a love of English led her to consider a career in law

    • The different experiences of working in an established law firm and a startup

    • Finding her niche in legal ops 

    • What is design thinking and how to prepare for more AI in the future

    • Her favourite podcast and other fun facts 

    About Vivien

    Vivien Clancy is a client relationship manager and legal operations specialist with a background in in-house and private practice. Vivien has a wealth of experience in the legal operations space, including supporting a mining major's legal transformation initiatives. Before moving to Tokyo, she was the Senior Legal Operations Manager in Singapore supporting the HSF Corporate teams across Asia on a variety of internal and client projects, including regional process improvement initiatives, embedding legal project management and developing the firm’s client advisory practice for legal operations. Prior to joining HSF, she was a senior in-house lawyer at a FTSE-listed MNC and a digital healthcare startup in Singapore, and a private practice M&A lawyer at Linklaters / Allens in Melbourne. 


    Connect with Vivien

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivien-c-3577602b/ 


    Links

    Bills: https://billsjapan.com/en 

    Legal Ops Podcast: https://www.legalops.fm/ 


    Connect with Catherine 

    Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair

    YouTube: https://youtube.com/@lawyeronair 

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    58 mins

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