Hi, I’m Catherine - AN award-winning, Tokyo-based senior business lawyer, coach-mentor, and law podcaster
The old way of practicing law isn’t working for most clients.
That’s why I’m radically improving the delivery of legal services to people in Japan or have business with people in Japan.
a little welcome note…
I’m Catherine O’Connell, the founder, and CEO of a boutique law firm in Tokyo, Japan - Catherine O’Connell Law. I’m the daughter of a Kiwi dad and Aussie mum with staunch Irish heritage. I was brought up in New Zealand and encouraged to be my own person and go for anything in life. That led me to study Japanese, a choice that changed my life and has been the solid foundation for all my work and life since then.
I’ve been living and working in Japan since 2002 and after 22+ years here, I am still learning new quirky things about Japan immersed in the culture I love and have made my second home.
I'm values-driven in a way that supports diversity and I put people at the centre of everything I do. I love helping people who run their own businesses because I run one too. I love speaking the same language as them and when I help them get their legal ducks all lined up - that is my reward.
I also can’t shrug off the In-House lawyer DNA from what I do each day. So, I also love working to help general counsel and regional legal counsel to leverage my language and cultural savviness to safely guide, navigate and translate the legal landscape for their operations in Japan.
I do that through my membership as a Foreign Registered Lawyer (“Gaiben”) Dai Ichi Tokyo Bar Association and Practicing Certificate issued by the regulator in New Zealand, The New Zealand Law Society in New Zealand.
If you are after something different for your law and business journey in Japan, contact me to see if we are a fit for me to be YOUR Lawyer on Board.
If you want to leverage my strengths and experience as your secret weapon and carve out your own set of “firsts,” then work with me.
lawyer
We are proud to be a leader in growing the new array of alternative secondment and ad-hoc advisory-based legal services.
Our aim is to combine our dedication to client service with our unique perspective of years of in-house legal counsel experience in Japan, complemented by corporate law practice experience in New Zealand and London. That expertise is further nuanced with our Japanese bi-lingual language fluency (English and Japanese) so as to offer you a portfolio of services that is diverse and distinct from those available from other legal service providers.
mentor
My journey to where I stand now as an entrepreneurial lawyer who hung out my shingle in Tokyo was certainly not a linear one, but I wouldn’t change it if I had to repeat it again. It has been incredibly rewarding to start something from scratch and look back on the progression — setting goals, meeting them, improving, innovating, and doing more every year. This non-linear lawyer trajectory has led me to a passion to help other lawyers find their passion through mentoring.
I help young, mid, and senior career lawyers through both Career Mentorship and Executive Mentorship.
podcaster
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.
Jandals in Japan - Listen and subscribe to the Jandals in Japan podcast, the best new show about doing business in Japan, bringing The Land of the Long White Cloud to The Land of the Rising Sun. Co-hosted by me and Jayne Nakata.
community leader
I sprinkle my fairy dust experience and support for women lawyers in Japan, the legal community broadly, and the business space with my voluntary involvement in four Chambers of Commerce. Also, as president of Women in Law Japan (NPO), and via the Jandals in Japan podcast, I help bring success stories from the land of the long white cloud (Aotearoa NZ) to the land of the rising sun (Japan).
I’m passionate about advancing DIVERSITY efforts in Japan, in the legal community, and in society. In the middle of a pandemic, I launched my lawyer podcast sharing stories of life and the law for women, (and male allies) in Japan.
A little more about me, outside the ofice
My Favorite Things About Living in Japan
The public transport system, takkyubin delivery network, safety in the streets, art galleries and exhibitions from overseas, local crafts and ceramics, the people and their love of the four seasons, hydrangeas in the rainy season, plum blossoms in spring, maple leaves in autumn and crunchy snow on the sidewalk in winter; discovering new eateries and wine bars and making friends with the bartenders, #soulstrolls, turning the corner and discovering something new, its convenience and how there is always something to do.
Favorite Places to Visit in Japan
The places where memories have been created and I have made friends: Kurashiki in Okayama, Miyajima in Hiroshima, Kagawa prefecture in Shikoku (especially staying at Kotohira-Kadan and heading to Naoshima island), Kaga-Onsen in Kanazawa (especially Beniya Mukayu Ryokan and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art); the towns of Magome and Tsumago on the Nakasendo trail. I absolutely love exploring local cuisine, craft shops, shrines and temples and chatting with locals in small-town “mum & dad”-run shops and bars. This is a blissful slice of life for me!
how Catherine O'Connell law began…
I have forged my own unique entrepreneurial path in the legal space in Japan.
After stepping away from pure law firm life and pure in-house counsel somewhat frustrated with the status quo, I vowed to found my own firm that does things a little bit different and bring the best of both worlds of my lawyer past to create my lawyer present - Lawyer on Board at CO Law.
I was frustrated because when I was in-house I couldn’t get a part-time, interim, fractional, locum, or flexible lawyer to come in and help me out for just a small slice of their time and so I had to do all the work myself. Does this sound familiar?
I was frustrated too because in big law firms my in-house business savviness and insights into how business owners and in-house legal team leaders think, didn’t mean as much to the firm and weren’t valued as much as I valued it.
Whilst working alongside some amazing clients in my own firm since 2018 as their outsourced inside lawyer I’ve also carved out other passion projects that lead me and drive me every day. My podcast Lawyer on Air and my coaching/mentoring of other lawyers are passions I dream about and when I wake up each day, I can’t wait to do them alongside my work.
My bold challenges to the legal status quo in Japan have led me to win awards for my legal entrepreneurship and leadership in the law and business community in Japan. I’m consistently a finalist/nominee in foreign lawyer, women lawyer, and boutique law firm of the year awards. That’s recognition that I’m on the right path and making a difference but it’s not everything.
What I really love is simply being the master of my own life, able to connect people to people, do good law work and be the kind of lawyer leader and an inspiration to others, that I always wanted to be.
The Japanese legal system is arranged so that we have our specialties and collaboratively call upon specialists to help us when we are not the expert. So we are certainly not a replacement for traditional law firms and we are not here to replace in-house counsel. But we know there is a gap in the middle, that needs to be filled. This is especially in Japan.
We exist together with other law firms in the Japanese legal ecosystem.
To be frank – I stick to my love of the law, commercial contracts, and general practice in business law as well as compliance. But I also have a superpower!
“My superpower is the power of connection. I connect with people really easily and connect people to people who I really know absolutely have to be connected. ”
That’s how, if you are my client, I can connect you to specialist lawyer colleagues who have the expertise in areas of the law that I don’t have and who can help you where I cannot.
Relationships are key in everything I do. It’s the key to my success. It’s why I have managed to stay in Japan this long. We are nothing without our relationships and networks.
-Catherine
“It goes without saying that Catherine’s style and fluency in Japanese language and culture made the interface with our staff extremely efficient. Catherine was also able to gain insight into the case and ensure that the right information was extracted from the business. The key contribution that I believe Catherine was able to make was that our legal case was significantly strengthened by her insight and her ability to collect relevant evidence to support our case and I really appreciate her hard work.”