Lexi Takamatsu had just sat down for the very first time in her new home in the US, opened her laptop to find an email which would change the trajectory of her life again. Lexi shares how by finding what she likes about her legal practice and focusing on those areas, opportunities have come to her that she never imagined.

How do you become an art curator but then become a lawyer working in construction law? Hojung Jun shows us how you can take time to discover your niche and come to love the law by finding exactly where it suits you to work in this incredibly vast industry. She shows us a fascinating side of the construction industry and how it can be complex, exciting and international.

Overcoming glass ceilings, cultural differences and English language challenges, Junko Mukoyama is my next inspirational guest on Lawyer on Air. She explains how Japan has changed so much in just one generation but also the barriers she came up against in her career and how she took control of her career and ended up smashing through them.

What would it be like to work in the Tokyo office of a major law firm such as Morrison & Foerster (MoFo)? Well in this episode we bring you the Managing Partner of the Tokyo office, Ken Siegel, sharing his insights and experience with over 25 years of working in Japan at the top of M&A law. It is my great pleasure to give you this rare opportunity to hear from Ken about the latest on hiring, retaining talent and the future of law in Tokyo.

What do you do when you have two competing loves, such as Japanese language and law? Olivia Nomura didn’t settle for one, she went for both. In this episode, Olivia shares how she was able to become a Japanese speaking foreign lawyer working in Tokyo for a big international firm, who now manages exciting multi-jurisdictional M&A deals. Oliva shows us how she perseveres in the short term for her long term goals and finds innovative ways around obstacles that pop up along the way.

Welcome to the first episode of Season 3! You will love the Lawyer Extraordinaire for Episode One: Mariko Mimura. Mariko is a great example that stepping upwards and outwards is entirely possible at any stage of your career. She is also living proof that you can go from working in-house and return to a law firm role as an attractive value add to a firm having excelled on the inside of business at the coal face. She is an inspiration for how we can continue to reinvent ourselves on our own terms.

The first woman partner at a major international law firm in Tokyo is my guest in the finale of Season Two of Lawyer on Air. Not only is she a Partner but she is about to take her second maternity leave, so this is an episode not to be missed for anyone considering taking leave to spend more time with their family or considering a sabbatical and wondering how it might affect your career.

Being raised in a financially struggling family in the Philippines did not stop my guest Lani Vinas from becoming a top level legal director in a law firm in Japan. Whatever you might think are your limitations, this episode will blow them all away for you. Lani tells us her story of her childhood and how her hard work combined with the generosity of others made it possible for her to be where she is today working at a premier IP firm in Osaka, Japan.

If you are finding that you are letting your current circumstances stagnate your legal career, then this is the episode for you. Rika Nakajima is one of the first Japanese women lawyers to hold the office of Representative Corporate Executive Officer in Japan, and as a single parent to two boys, she has definitely not let her circumstances get in the way of her career and taking the leaps that have led her to where she is today.

It’s the Lawyer on Air “Bonenkai” (End of Year) Episode. Grab a glass of your favourite beverage and join Catherine and Jayne as they help you see out 2021, and welcome in 2022 with this bumper bonus episode. Make sure you listen to the end, ...we have some bloopers for you too ... because we like to keep it real! You’ll need a pen and paper to write down all the great tips we have compiled for your legal career and living your most authentic life in 2022.