Asahi Yamashita is currently a senior lawyer with Tokyo Surugadai Law Offices in Japan. He became a legal advisor to ClientEarth in January 2021 to assist ClientEarth’s work with government, industry and civil society to tackle climate change and accelerate the clean energy transition in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Asahi has practiced law for nearly 30 years advising on investment, financing, corporate and regulatory matters, most of which required bilingual skills, understanding laws of multiple jurisdictions and different cultural backgrounds. Prior to his current position, Mr. Yamashita served at a major insurance company in Japan as Deputy General Counsel for 8 years and Executive Officer (shikko yakuin) for 3 years.

Prior to being an in-house counsel of the financial institution, he worked in the San Francisco Office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (“Orrick”) in the mid-1990s, and thereafter he assisted Orrick to establish its first presence in Tokyo as one of the founders and led its Tokyo office as partner for more than 10 years.  He is a native Japanese speaker and fluent in English.  He is a member of Daini Tokyo Bar Association/Japan Bar Associations Federation.