Aida Wang is a top-billing legal recruiter at Just Legal who specialises in private practice placements for bengoshi (Japan-qualified lawyers). With a unique background as a professional translator and interpreter between English and Mandarin Chinese, Aida brings a fresh perspective on bridging communication gaps - not just between languages, but between lawyers and law firms.

Aida shares practical advice on deal sheets, career planning, and why speaking to a recruiter from day one of your legal career journey in Japan can change your career trajectory.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would leave us a message here!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• The critical importance of creating and maintaining a deal sheet from day one of your career

• Why you should speak to a recruiter early in your career, not just when you're actively looking

• The biggest misconception about Japanese bengoshi lawyers

• How Aida helps candidates and clients create compelling stories to help find a perfect match

About Aida

Aida Wang is a Tokyo-based legal recruiter specialising in Bengoshi (Japan-qualified lawyer) searches for private practice, with a particular focus on supporting associates and counsels as they navigate the critical transition points in their legal careers.

Currently a Principal Consultant at Just Legal, Aida works with both Japanese and international law firms, recruiting Japanese Bengoshi and foreign-qualified attorneys across a wide range of practice areas. She is known for her thoughtful, relationship-driven approach and for offering market insight that goes well beyond simply filling roles. In her first quarter at Just Legal, Aida quickly made her mark as a top biller which is a reflection of her proactive mindset, deep preparation, and ability to truly understand both candidates and clients.

Before moving into legal recruitment, Aida spent over a decade working as a Chinese–English freelance translator and interpreter, including roles in media, film, and news translation. This earlier career laid the foundation for what has become a defining theme of her professional life: bridging gaps - between languages, cultures, expectations, and ultimately, legal careers. Her background in interpreting gives her a rare ability to listen carefully, read between the lines, and translate what lawyers want into what the market is really asking for.

Aida holds a Bachelor’s degree from National Chengchi University in Taiwan, along with a Master’s degree in Interpreting and Translation from the University of Bath in the UK. She has also completed Japanese language studies at Keio University. Having lived and worked in Taiwan, the Bahamas, the United States, the UK, and Japan, she brings a genuinely global perspective to her work. She is a native speaker of Mandarin and English, with business-level Japanese, and regularly supports cross-border legal careers in the Japanese market.

Through her conversations with Bengoshi across multiple practice areas, Aida frequently hears one recurring challenge: how to develop clients and bring in work before holding a partner title. This insight shapes much of her advisory work with senior associates who are thinking carefully about long-term career sustainability, visibility, and progression within private practice.

Outside of work, Aida enjoys cooking and crafting with her eight-year-old son, a creative counterbalance to her professional life that reflects the same curiosity and care she brings to her career.

Connect with Aida

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsinyuaidawang/

Just Legal: https://www.justsearchgroup.com/justlegal/consultants/aida-wang

Links

Afternoon Tea: https://www.afternoon-tea.net/

Connect with Catherine

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

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

Guest Host Yoko Oshima leads this episode’s interview with host Catherine O’Connell as Lawyer on Air reaches the milestone of 5 years on air and 100 guests. Catherine shares her remarkable journey from a shy New Zealand teenager to an award-winning lawyer, podcast host, and board member at companies like Toyota and Fujitsu.

You will hear about the pivotal moments that shaped her career, and why she believes courage must come before confidence. If you love listening to LOA and want to know more about Catherine, this is the episode for you.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would leave us a message here!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Catherine's childhood curiosity and shyness coexist with the confidence she's built over decades in Japan

• The Japanese lawyers who inspired her career transition and the mentor who saw her potential before she did

• Why she's stayed in Japan for 23 years despite initially planning “max two years”, and the concept of "strategic patience"

• The high-stakes investigation moment when Catherine realised that THIS was why she became a lawyer

• Her favourite restaurant and other fun facts

About Catherine

Catherine O’Connell is a bilingual New Zealand lawyer and the Principal & Founder of Catherine O’Connell Law, the first foreign female–founded law firm in Tokyo. An award-winning practitioner, she has been recognised as Foreign Lawyer of the Year (2022), Boutique Law Firm of the Year (2023), and Entrepreneur of the Year (2020) for her leadership and innovation.

Catherine served as an Independent Audit & Supervisory Board Member of Toyota Motor Corporation (2023–2025) and currently serves as an Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Member of Fujitsu Limited (since 2022). Through these appointments she became the first non-Japanese female in Japanese corporate history to serve in such roles on these two blue-chip corporate boards. Her governance work is defined by cross-cultural fluency, bilingual communication, and a capacity to translate complex legal, compliance, and risk issues into clear board-level insight.

Drawing on more than 20 years’ experience in senior in-house legal counsel roles at Molex, Panasonic, Olympus, Mitsubishi Motors, alongside private practice experience at Hogan Lovells, and Anderson Lloyd, Catherine now advises boards, CEOs, and C-suite executives on governance, cross-border leadership, and boardroom mindset. Her C-suite mentoring programmes help executives understand how boards think and decide, enabling stronger alignment and strategic clarity.

Catherine hosts the award-winning Lawyer on Air podcast and co-hosts Jandals in Japan, celebrating cross-border success stories. She is Vice-Chair Emerita of the Australia & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Co-Chair of the Legal Services & IP Committee at the ACCJ, and Past President and Advisory Board Member of Women in Law Japan.

Connect with Yoko

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoko-oshima-36a7396/

Links

Hotel Indigo Tokyo Shibuya

Unpausable play list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3aCekQmbR0CYMxzdkhzFqN?si=BrfZXnH_Soq8SIazs5M_AQ

Wakanui Restaurant: https://www.wakanui.jp/grill_dining_bar_tokyo/en/index.html

Connect with Catherine

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

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

"I thought you didn't want to be a partner" - Maya Ito heard these stunning words at a meeting to discuss her firm’s view that her lack of career progression at Big Four law firm Nishimura & Asahi, was simply because she had children. Plot spoiler: she's now a partner at that same firm, she’s leading cross-border project finance deals, and all the while, she’s running an almost entirely female team. Maya shares a deeply personal story of utter loss that forever changed how she approaches every single day of her life, reveals the Japanese warrior philosophy that defines her service to clients, and also explains why monthly team lunches replaced late-night drinking sessions. If you are looking up at senior partners wondering how they got there, or simply want to know what it really takes to sustain a career in Big Law while living with no regrets, grab your headphones and get ready to get to know Maya Ito in a way you never have before.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would leave us a message here!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• Parental expectations that shaped her legal career and how she overcame them

• A profound personal loss that became a turning point that guides her actions every day

• The "kagemusha" philosophy of lawyering as a shadow ally

• How Maya runs her all female team and makes time for her own life too

• Her favourite podcasts, books and other fun facts

About Maya

Maya Ito is a partner at Nishimura & Asahi. She has extensive expertise in cross-border project financing for various natural resources, power projects, and other infrastructure projects. Her experience also extends to areas such as compliance, cross-border financial transactions, cross-border corporate transactions, and other general corporate matters.

Maya has extensive experience advising international investors on cross-border renewable energy projects, as well as advising both borrowers and lenders on financing for renewable energy projects in Japan. She previously worked in the cross-border project finance team of a Japanese megabank, handling matters relating to natural resources, power and energy, and infrastructure. Maya has also provided banks, financial institutions, and other corporate clients, most of which operate their businesses globally, with compliance and regulatory advice, as well as advice on a variety of governance matters. She is actively involved in D&I projects aimed at promoting the active participation of women, and has organized numerous D&I seminars and other similar events for corporations. She is also actively involved in Climate Change related projects and has organized Climate Change seminars and events.

In her free time Maya likes to play golf and she usually plays golf with her colleagues, clients and her family. Maya also has two cute toy poodles (Tarao and Ikura). The poodles’ names come from a famous Japanese Anime, “Sazae-san” and they give Maya a sense of “iyashi” (癒し) meaning “soothing and solace”.

Connect with Maya

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-ito-278b1863/

Links

Kagemusha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagemusha

Ikikata Book: https://amzn.asia/d/ew7DMGc 　　

Connect with Catherine

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/

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