Welcome: Catherine O’Connell

The BCCJ is delighted to welcome our Catherine O’Connell Law on becoming an Entrepreneur Member!

Catherine O’Connell is Lawpreneur who launched her pioneering sole legal practice under her own name, Catherine O’Connell Law (CO Law) in 2018. She is the first non-Japanese female, and the first New Zealander to practice on her own account outside of New Zealand.

The goal of CO Law is to provide legal services viewed through the lens of business. This perspective is based on Catherine’s 15+ years working inside businesses in-house legal counsel roles. Catherine’s expertise is in general corporate and commercial and regulatory and she is licensed in England & Wales, New Zealand & Japan. CO Law is also proud to be one of the leaders in Tokyo in growing the new array of alternative secondment and ad-hocadvisory-based legal services.  Examples of the kinds of services CO Law provides are:

Legal Services for new and maturing businesses: We work with business owners to conduct a “legal health check” of your current contract inventory, assessing your legal and compliance needs, gaps and risks, and creating a short to long-term needs plan. We design contract templates for use with your business stakeholders and assist with practical advice for negotiating those arrangements. We also provide consultation services on how to establish and grow a value-driven legal and compliance function in your business.

Flexible ad-hoc legal services: CO Law understand your business because we have worked in businesses just like yours. We can be your legal team off-site or a flexible extension of your existing legal team, using technology to connect with your people. Retainer-based arrangements are available for weekly/monthly “check ins” to discuss your legal projects.

Flexible secondments, Project work and bridging roles: CO Law backfills roles for legal staff out on parental or medical leave to assist with short-term capacity overflow and gaps, or special projects. We will in the longer term be developing services to support in house legal teams with “legal tech” and “legal ops” needs.

For more about CO Law go to: www.catherineoconnelllaw.com