Profile details
About Kenji Kawahara
Kenji has assisted international clients in overall areas of antitrust matters including merger filing cases with the JFTC and cartel investigation cases, as well as advising Japanese clients in domestic and international antitrust matters. He also has experience of work at the Japanese governmental regulatory agency over electricity and gas industries, and has insights on regulatory and competition matters over those areas.
Kenji speaks Japanese and English.
Prior to joining Freshfields Tokyo office, he worked at a leading Japanese firm, and then worked at the Japanese regulatory agency, the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission (the “EGC”) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (the “METI”).
Recent work
- Japanese companies in multi-jurisdictional filings including EU, US and Japan.
- companies in merger filing cases to the JFTC, including the ones which went through the JFTC’s complex 2nd phase review*.
- companies regarding third-party complaint to the JFTC over planned merger transaction.
- companies in the cartel investigation cases, including leniency application to the JFTC.
- legal consultations on antitrust matters over distribution business.
- companies in energy sector over antitrust matters.
* prior to joining Freshfields.
Qualifications
Education
- Kobe University, Japan (Ph.D.)
- Georgetown University, USA (LL.M.)
- University of Tokyo, Japan (J.D.)
- University of Tokyo, Japan (LL.B.)
Professional memberships
- Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association
Professional Qualifications
- Admitted in Japan and New York.