Mr. Kawasaki is the representative partner and co-founder of our firm. Under his leadership and vision, Waseda Legal Commons has grown into a force of its own, with more than thirty legal professionals and strong reputations in many areas of legal practice such as civil litigation, criminal defense, corporate, labor and employment, bankruptcy, personal data and privacy, and AI/NFT/crypto laws, in less than ten years of establishment.

As a practitioner, Mr. Kawasaki has many corporate clients in a wide range of industries as well as clients of other legal entities such as educational institutions and non-governmental organizations. He is especially adept at helping start-ups and ventures, and provides them with practical advice on many legal issues confronted at the early stages of business development.

One of Mr. Kawasaki’s specialties is the laws on AI/NFT/crypt technologies. Concurrently with his responsibilities with Waseda Legal Commons, he runs a consulting firm specialized in developing new applications of AI and blockchain technologies. Based upon such management experience of a technological venture and the personal network sprawling in the nascent NFT/metaverse/crypto ecosystem in the country, in combination with his experience advising Web 3.0/Metaverse start-ups as a lawyer, Mr. Kawasaki is regarded as one of the authorities in the field of law.

Recognized for his expertise in digital transformation, he is frequently consulted by regional governments for advice on business processing reengineering and the streamlining of administrative processes. Currently, he serves as a special counselor to Chief Information Officer of Setagaya Ward, a borough of metropolitan Tokyo.

Before admitted to the bar in 2008, Mr. Kawasaki worked as a consultant at Accenture (then Andersen Consulting). Because of his extensive experience in business and consulting, his advice to his corporate clients often goes far beyond mere legal issues, addressing the most serious concerns of CEOs and business owners.

Mr. Kawasaki holds a strong belief in Liberty, Innovation and Contribution, the credo of our firm. He aspires to “revitalize the commons” through community building in the society, and serves on the board of many public interest groups and non-profit organizations.