Building Your Legal Career with Strategic Insights from Legal Recruiter Aida Wang
Aida Wang is a top-billing legal recruiter at Just Legal who specialises in private practice placements for bengoshi (Japan-qualified lawyers). With a unique background as a professional translator and interpreter between English and Mandarin Chinese, Aida brings a fresh perspective on bridging communication gaps - not just between languages, but between lawyers and law firms.
Aida shares practical advice on deal sheets, career planning, and why speaking to a recruiter from day one of your legal career journey in Japan can change your career trajectory.
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In this episode you’ll hear:
The critical importance of creating and maintaining a deal sheet from day one of your career
Why you should speak to a recruiter early in your career, not just when you're actively looking
The biggest misconception about Japanese bengoshi lawyers
How Aida helps candidates and clients create compelling stories to help find a perfect match
About Aida
Aida Wang is a Tokyo-based legal recruiter specialising in Bengoshi (Japan-qualified lawyer) searches for private practice, with a particular focus on supporting associates and counsels as they navigate the critical transition points in their legal careers.
Currently a Principal Consultant at Just Legal, Aida works with both Japanese and international law firms, recruiting Japanese Bengoshi and foreign-qualified attorneys across a wide range of practice areas. She is known for her thoughtful, relationship-driven approach and for offering market insight that goes well beyond simply filling roles. In her first quarter at Just Legal, Aida quickly made her mark as a top biller which is a reflection of her proactive mindset, deep preparation, and ability to truly understand both candidates and clients.
Before moving into legal recruitment, Aida spent over a decade working as a Chinese–English freelance translator and interpreter, including roles in media, film, and news translation. This earlier career laid the foundation for what has become a defining theme of her professional life: bridging gaps - between languages, cultures, expectations, and ultimately, legal careers. Her background in interpreting gives her a rare ability to listen carefully, read between the lines, and translate what lawyers want into what the market is really asking for.
Aida holds a Bachelor’s degree from National Chengchi University in Taiwan, along with a Master’s degree in Interpreting and Translation from the University of Bath in the UK. She has also completed Japanese language studies at Keio University. Having lived and worked in Taiwan, the Bahamas, the United States, the UK, and Japan, she brings a genuinely global perspective to her work. She is a native speaker of Mandarin and English, with business-level Japanese, and regularly supports cross-border legal careers in the Japanese market.
Through her conversations with Bengoshi across multiple practice areas, Aida frequently hears one recurring challenge: how to develop clients and bring in work before holding a partner title. This insight shapes much of her advisory work with senior associates who are thinking carefully about long-term career sustainability, visibility, and progression within private practice.
Outside of work, Aida enjoys cooking and crafting with her eight-year-old son, a creative counterbalance to her professional life that reflects the same curiosity and care she brings to her career.
Aida’s journey from interpreting to legal recruitment is all about staying curious, being proactive, and not letting a single setback define your story.
Connect with Aida
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsinyuaidawang/
Just Legal: https://www.justsearchgroup.com/justlegal/consultants/aida-wang
Links
Afternoon Tea: https://www.afternoon-tea.net/
Connect with Catherine
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair
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