WADA Megumi
WADA Megumi
Lawyer
Tokyo Bar Association, New York
Career
2001
Graduated from High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba,
2005
Graduated from Hitotsubashi University, Faculty of Law
2007
Registered at Tokyo Bar Association, joined Tokyo Surugadai Law Offices (Associate, until May 2011)
2011
Worked as a staff lawyer at Houterasu Ibaraki Law Office (Until June 2014)
2015
Graduated from UC Hastings (currently UC San Francisco Law, LL.M) (specializing in Criminal Law)
2015
Completed the internship at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office
2016
Joined Takashi Takano Law Office (Partner) (until May 2022)
2022
Served as a Visiting Professional, at the International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor (until June 2023)
2023
Joined Kollect Arts Law Office
Language/Qualification
- Japanese and English
- Japan and the State of New York
Profile
Ms. Wada has been practicing law in Japan since 2007, specifically focusing on criminal defense. Before joining Kollect Arts Law Offices in August 2023, she worked at the Law Office of Takashi Takano where she gained extensive experience in criminal defense. She also worked as a researcher for the Criminal Justice division of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations between 2016 and 2022.
Ms. Wada received her LL.B. from Hitotsubashi University in 2005 and her LL.M. from UC Law San Francisco (former UC Hastings, specializing in criminal law) in 2015. After graduating, she completed her internship at the Public Defender’s Office in San Francisco and was admitted to the State of New York bar in 2016. Since June 2022, she served as a visiting professional at the Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (the Hague, Netherlands).
Publications
- Protecting the defendants’ rights to communicate with outside world, Prospects for Democratic Justice, Nihon Hyoronsya (2022)
- Admissibility of out-of-court statements of witnesses made abroad and the protection of the right to examine witness, Criminal Evidence Law in the Saiban-in Era, Nihon Hyoronsya (2021)
- What the Saiban-in Brought from the Perspective of a Defense Lawyer, Hastings Journal of Crime and Punishment Vol.1. No.3 (2020)
- Criminal Defense Practice: Pre-indictment/Pre-trial/Lay judge trial, co-authored, Nihon Hyoron-sha (2019)
- How can you represent those people? Gendaijimbun-sha (2017) [Translator]
- To establish the right to effective assistance of counsel, Constitutional Criminal Defense- Practical Approach by Takashi Takano, Nihon Hyoronsha (2017)
- Practice of criminal defense for establishing communications in jail between defendants and their families, Modern Criminal Defense, Daiichi-Houki Publishing (2013)