Kazuhiro Takei was voted the number one business lawyer in Japan in 2005 by 1,000 Japanese public companies in a poll published by Nikon Keizai Shimbun, the Japanese equivalent of the Wall Street Journal.

He attributes his success as a business lawyer to really understanding his clients. “In order to become a good doctor, you need to know your patient,” he says. So it follows that in order to become a good business lawyer, you need to understand your client. It was for this reason, that Takei decided, following four and a half years practising with Nishimura and Partners, one of Japan’s largest and premier law firms, and a year-long masters degree at Harvard Law School, to study for an MBA at Oxford.

“I didn’t want to do a two-year programme,” Takei says, “because I had just spent a year studying at Harvard. Then I heard from a friend that Oxford University was just starting a one-year MBA programme. It was perfect timing.” Takei considered Insead and IMD, but was attracted to Oxford by the fact that he would meet people from outside as well as inside the business world. Also, he felt that the international reputation of Oxford would carry a lot of weight in Japan. “I just had to go to Oxford,” he says.
 
Looking back on his MBA year now, Takei says it is the intercultural aspects that have proved most valuable. “If I had gone to a US school,” he says, “I would have studied US business methods, but at Oxford we compared different methods – US, Asian including Japanese, European, and so on. That was really fruitful.” Plus, in his leisure time, Takei discovered a love for Oxford’s waterways and became an expert punter.

Takei’s goal of better understanding his clients was fully realised. Now back at Nishimura Partners, following a brief stint at the law firm Paul, Weiss in New York, he finds that dealing with directors and officers of large public companies, investment bankers and consultants is much easier. “I have a better understanding of what they are talking about,” he says. “I can use the terminology they use. I can share their way of thinking.” Plus, he says, he finds it easier to take a more objective view of global business as a result of his MBA experience, one that is not dominated by a single national perspective.

Oxford continues to play a role in Takei’s professional life. “There are about 30 Saïd Business School alumni in Tokyo,” he says, “and lots of Oxford alumni. Those relationships are very useful.” His career is going from strength to strength. Not only has he been named the number one business lawyer in Japan, he also serves on government committees on corporate law, corporate governance, corporate takeover defence, capital markets and corporate taxation.

It’s an exciting time to be working as a Japanese business lawyer. Globalization and the rise of the internet are causing change and restructuring throughout Japanese industry, causing it to open up in new ways. As international and institutional shareholders play an increasing role in Japanese business, the demand for Takei’s service is on the rise – a trend that seems set to continue.