Pushing Doors Open: Catherine O'Connell on Strategic Patience, Governance, and Giving Back
Guest Host Yoko Oshima leads this episode’s interview with host Catherine O’Connell as Lawyer on Air reaches the milestone of 5 years on air and 100 guests. Catherine shares her remarkable journey from a shy New Zealand teenager to an award-winning lawyer, podcast host, and board member at companies like Toyota and Fujitsu.
You will hear about the pivotal moments that shaped her career, and why she believes courage must come before confidence. If you love listening to LOA and want to know more about Catherine, this is the episode for you.
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In this episode you’ll hear:
How Catherine's childhood curiosity and shyness coexist with the confidence she's built over decades in Japan
The Japanese lawyers who inspired her career transition and the mentor who saw her potential before she did
Why she's stayed in Japan for 23 years despite initially planning “max two years”, and the concept of "strategic patience"
The high-stakes investigation moment when Catherine realised that THIS was why she became a lawyer
Her favourite restaurant and other fun facts
About Catherine
Catherine O’Connell is a bilingual New Zealand lawyer and the Principal & Founder of Catherine O’Connell Law, the first foreign female–founded law firm in Tokyo. An award-winning practitioner, she has been recognised as Foreign Lawyer of the Year (2022), Boutique Law Firm of the Year (2023), and Entrepreneur of the Year (2020) for her leadership and innovation.
Catherine served as an Independent Audit & Supervisory Board Member of Toyota Motor Corporation (2023–2025) and currently serves as an Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Member of Fujitsu Limited (since 2022). Through these appointments she became the first non-Japanese female in Japanese corporate history to serve in such roles on these two blue-chip corporate boards. Her governance work is defined by cross-cultural fluency, bilingual communication, and a capacity to translate complex legal, compliance, and risk issues into clear board-level insight.
Drawing on more than 20 years’ experience in senior in-house legal counsel roles at Molex, Panasonic, Olympus, Mitsubishi Motors, alongside private practice experience at Hogan Lovells, and Anderson Lloyd, Catherine now advises boards, CEOs, and C-suite executives on governance, cross-border leadership, and boardroom mindset. Her C-suite mentoring programmes help executives understand how boards think and decide, enabling stronger alignment and strategic clarity.
Catherine hosts the award-winning Lawyer on Air podcast and co-hosts Jandals in Japan, celebrating cross-border success stories. She is Vice-Chair Emerita of the Australia & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Co-Chair of the Legal Services & IP Committee at the ACCJ, and Past President and Advisory Board Member of Women in Law Japan.
Connect with Yoko
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoko-oshima-36a7396/
Links
Unpausable play list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3aCekQmbR0CYMxzdkhzFqN?si=BrfZXnH_Soq8SIazs5M_AQ
Wakanui Restaurant: https://www.wakanui.jp/grill_dining_bar_tokyo/en/index.html
Connect with Catherine
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair
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Lawyer on Air was the winner of the Bronze Award in the “Best Podcast by a Kiwi Abroad Category” in the New Zealand Podcast Awards 2021.
Lawyer on Air has been nominated for “Best Business Podcast” in the Quill Podcast Awards, 2022! Thank you to all our supporters who voted for the podcast!