Focus

Ayumi Shimada is the first Japanese qualified lawyer for ClientEarth. She works on directors’ duties regarding climate change, energy regulations and carbon markets in Japan to facilitate the Asian transition to a climate-neutral economy, with a focus on Japan. She works to increase recognition in the legal and corporate sectors of climate-related risks as material financial risks that companies should actively manage and provide meaningful disclosures on.

Ayumi joined ClientEarth in January 2026 as a member of Japan team and is currently based in our Oceania office.

Experience

Ayumi has worked in a manufacturing company in Kyoto as a junior inhouse lawyer from 2015 to 2018. She has migrated to Australia in 2018 and became an Australian solicitor in 2021. She has a work experience as a volunteer researcher in Environmental Defenders Office involving climate change litigations, and as a paralegal in a carbon credits industry in Australia while she was in the practical legal training. She used to be the director and treasurer of the National Environmental Lawyers Association. She also was previously an associate at Ashurst Australia in Melbourne, Australia as a corporate lawyer.

Education

Ayumi has a Bachelor Economics from Kyoto University. She obtained her Juris Doctor degrees from Kyoto University in Japan and the University of New South Wales in Australia. She is dual qualified in Japan (admitted in 2015, currently not practising) and NSW, Australia (admitted in 2021, practicing).