Creating fairness in the legal landscape of an organisation: Insights from Kenji Tagaya

Lawyer on Air

Kenji Tagaya joins Lawyer on Air as a very welcome male guest, fan of the show and ally of women working in the law in Japan. Kenji is General Counsel at Jera and shares his own lived experience of being a minority and how he uses that experience to help empower others. In addition to his career, Kenji is very active in volunteer activities and we hear about how he asks if he can join in and help and in doing this he has been able to use his skills for good outside of the office too.

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In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Kenji’s interest in foreign affairs led him to an international career even without any international experience

• Kenji’s lived experience of what it’s like to not be part of the majority and how he uses this in his work to help all team members succeed

• How Kenji uses his skills in English for good and how it helps him to lead a fulfilling life

• His favourite podcast and other fun facts

About Kenji

Kenji Tagaya is the Executive Officer, Head of Legal Group of JERA, which is one of the major energy companies in Japan, encompassing the entire energy supply chain from upstream fuel investment and fuel procurement through power generation. Prior to joining JERA in 2016, Kenji worked for a Japanese governmental financial institution (JBIC) and was involved in oil & gas and power project financing in Asia and the Middle East. He also spent time at Allen & Overy’s Projects Group in London as an Associate, and also at an international financial institution (EBRD) in London as a Principal Counsel, involved in development financing in emerging countries. He was awarded ALB (Asian Legal Business) Japan “In-house Lawyer of the Year” in 2017 and Chambers “GC Influencers” Japan in 2019. He received LL.B. from Kyoto University (Japan) and LL.M. from Georgetown University (US).

Connect with Kenji

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenji-tagaya-b6811675/

Links

Rokusei https://www.rokusei.co.jp/

“How I Built This” Podcast: https://www.npr.org/series/490248027/how-i-built-this

Connect with Catherine

Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@lawyeronair