Visiting Attorney Asahi YAMASHITA
TEL：03-5366-5799FAX：03-3226-5711For over 30 years, I built my career chiefly in the realm of real estate finance, working on securitization transactions, disputes over securities, transactions between corporations, corporate restructuring, etc. Presently, I utilize my knowledge and experience working in financial and corporate law to provide a unique approach to addressing corporate sustainability issues. In particular, I focus on the transition to decarbonization, the exercise of shareholder rights (e.g. shareholder proposals), board member responsibilities, climate change-related disclosure, and more.
CV
1986 Graduated University of Tokyo, Department of Law
1991 Graduated Legal Research and Training Institute of Japan
1991 Registered as attorney (Daini Tokyo Bar Association)
April 1991 – September 1995 Koyama, Toyama & Hosoya Law Offices
October 1995 – July 1997 Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (San Francisco Office)
1997 Registered as attorney (State Bar of California) [currently inactive status]
August 1997 – December 1998 Koyama, Toyama & Hosoya Law Offices
1999 Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe International Law Firm
2000 – 2011 Partner, Orrick Tokyo Office
2012 – 2019 Deputy General Counsel, Aflac Life Insurance Japan Ltd.
2017 – 2019 Executive Office & Deputy General Counsel, Aflac Life Insurance Japan Ltd.
2020 Advisor, Aflac Life Insurance Japan Ltd.
January 2021 – January 2024 Tokyo Surugadai Law Offices
February 2024 – July 2024 Representative Director, ISH ClientEarth
August 2025 – Present Sugiyama & Partners LPC
Bar Association
2012 – 2019 Legal Education Dissemination and Promotion Committee, Daini Tokyo Bar Association
2021 – Present Climate Change Strategy Project Team, Committee on Pollution Control and Preservation of the Environment, Japan Federation of Bar Associations
Private Organizations
2021 – January 2024 Legal advisor, ClientEarth UK
June 2022 – Present Director, Corporate Action Japan
August 2024 – Present Board Member, ISH ClientEarth
Published Works
“The legal pathway for Japanese shareholder proposals on climate change,” ClientEarth Communications, ClientEarth.org (March 2021)
“Kikō hendō to bijinesu: kinyū・kigyō-hō no hatasu-beki yakuwari ni tsuite” [“Climate change and business: On the role financial and corporate law should play”], Hō no Shihai No 204 (February 2022)
“Kikō hendō to bijinesu: kinyū・kigyō-hō no hatasu-beki yakuwari” [“Climate change and business: The role financial and corporate law should play”], Jiyū to Seigi No 73 (March 2022)
“GX Sai, Nuguenu kābon rokku-in kenen” [“GX Economic Transition Bonds: The ineradicable anxiety of carbon lock-in”], Nikkei GX (March 2025)
Co-Author, “Shareholder Climate Proposals in Japan,” ClientEarth Asia (June 2025)
Seminars and Publications
Panelist, “Net Zero Transition Plan,” UK Transition Plan Taskforce (March 2023)
Panelist, “The Rise of Shareholder Resolutions,” Responsible Investor Japan (May 2023)
Panelist, “Market Integrity and Greenwashing in Sustainable Finance,” Responsible Investor Japan (May 2023)
Panelist, “Corporations and Sustainability,” 15th JFBA Environmental Law Summer School (September 2024)