Lawyer Monthly Magazine - August 2019 Edition

Road to Success in Law The Journey of a Female Japanese Lawyer Yoshiko Koizumi began working as a lawyer when there were fewer female partners around. Below, she describes her journey to becoming a well-established lawyer in Japan, what motivates her and her favourite aspects of working in law. Can you share your journey to becoming a lawyer and what motivated you to specialise in law? I joined CY in 2009. Before I joined CY, I was a partner at one of the largest law firms in Japan. I became an attorney in 1972 and have been practising law continuously for over 40 years ever since. I am also a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) and LAWASIA. What initially motivated me to specialise in law was my opportunity to work for the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) as an interpreter during the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 when I was a college student. During the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, I had a chance to interact with numerous athletes and visitors coming to Japan from over 94 countries around the world. Interactions with foreigners motivated me to become an attorney specialising in cross-border legal practice which would provide me with opportunities to work with various people around the world. Throughout my professional career, I have always been interested in doing projects which were cutting edge and which very few women attorneys had a chance to work on at that time. I have been tackling legal issues which are at the forefront of the times. Shortly after I became an attorney in 1972, I began to provide legal support to Japanese companies involved in overseas engineering and construction projects. There were not many Japanese companies which participated in overseas engineering and construction projects at that time. The first project assigned to me was a soil investigation project in Central Africa. The first major construction project which I was involved in was the Suez Canal Expansion and Deepening Project in Egypt in which I assisted a major Japanese construction company in preparing contracts, in handling voluminous claims arising in the course of pursuing the project and in negotiations with the Suez Canal Authority from 1974. I also assisted Japanese government agency from 1985 in the negotiation in connection with the Second Panama Canal Plan which received strong support from Japanese business circle. Until the late 1980s, only Japanese suppliers and contractors were able to participate in the bids for public works projects in Japan. However, in 1988, Japan agreed to allow non-Japanese contractors and suppliers to participate in the bids as a consequence of Japan’s long- lasting trade dispute with the US throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I had been a counsel to the Japanese government- funded company from 1984 to assist them in building Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan through the various phases including design of the 32 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | AUG 2019 Super Lawyers By Yoshiko Koizumi, City-Yuwa Partners Contact Yoshiko Koizumi City-Yuwa Partners Marunouchi Mitsui Building 2-2-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0005, Japan Tel: +81-3-6212-5500 E: yoshiko.koizum @ city-yuwa.com