As one of the world’s leading global law firms, our story is one of change and progress. Through our 200-year history, taking a progressive stance on the issues of our time has been a constant thread, every step of the way.
We are proud of the contribution we have been able to make to the Australia-Japan business relationship over the past few decades. Our Japanese client team has been privileged to work on some of the most significant M&A transactions and projects undertaken by Japanese companies in Australia since the 1990’s. The success of our practice led to Blake Dawson (now Ashurst Australia) becoming the first Australian law firm to establish an office in Tokyo in 2010, with Natsuko Ogawa being appointed as its first resident partner. Within two years, Blake Dawson merged with Ashurst, which was already a leading international firm in the Tokyo market having opened that office as its first office in Asia back in 1990.
Over the past three decades, the AJBCC has provided us with the platform to support the broader Australia-Japan relationship, maintaining treasured connections while taking the relationship in new exciting directions. Our Global CEO, Paul Jenkins, was appointed to the AJBCC board in 2022, joining former Ashurst partners Ian Williams and Bob Seidler, who have served for many years. Natsuko Ogawa has attended every Joint Business Conference since 1998 (except Fukuoka) and was appointed Chair of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Sub-Committee this year. Some of our key engagements with the AJBCC include participating on panels at the Joint Business Conference (Paul Jenkins in Tokyo, 2022 and Paul Newman in Osaka, 2019), and the Australia Japan Infrastructure initiative and the future leaders’ Guide to Bridging the Cultural Divide.
We are committed to developing future leaders who have the language and cultural skills required to make the Japan-Australia relationship even stronger. We continue to offer secondment opportunities to lawyers (between Japan and Australia) to develop these skills and more importantly, enduring friendships and memories. We are delighted that Shojeeb Alam and Alex McLeish will be representing us as future leaders at this year’s conference.
The content of these webpages has been prepared by the respective member companies of the AJBCC and JABCC. Any comments, opinions or beliefs expressed in the pages are those of the relevant organisation alone. They do not represent the views of the Committee (or any of its officeholders or other members), and we do not assume any liability for them. If you have any concerns please contact us on contact_us@ajbcc.com.au
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