International law firm Withers has hired Kenichi Takashima as a senior tax counsel in its Tokyo office. Kenichi's addition to the practice complements the office's expansion with the arrival of five partners and other lawyers in October 2018 who added funds and real estate capabilities to the team.
Kenichi is an accomplished tax specialist with a wide range of experience, including international tax advisory, tax strategies, tax planning, corporate restructuring, cross-border M&A and financial arrangements. His broad tax knowledge has been accumulated through his comprehensive experience working in Japan, as well as other regions such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia and European countries such as the Netherlands. He has worked extensively on BEPS-related advisory, including tax governance advisory issues, and has been involved in tax ruling negotiations with tax authorities in Europe, South America and Japan.
Kenichi is a highly regarded international tax specialist with years of experience and is involved in public roles such as acting as the Japanese representative of Business and Industry Advisory Committee to OECD (“BIAC”). "We are delighted to have him to join the firm to further strengthen our tax practice," said Eric Roose, partner in Withers' Tokyo office. "We are seeing strong demand from Japan-based funds, trading and real estate companies that require international tax and corporate advice for their investments locally and overseas, and Kenichi's knowledge will be an added value to our service offering."
Prior to joining Withers, Kenichi was a partner at the Japan tax department of one of the “Big 4” accounting firms, where he served as a lead partner advising some of the world's most renowned trading companies, as well as Japanese multinational conglomerates.
Kenichi received his Master of Business Administration focusing on financial management from the University of Queensland and B.A. in German studies from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He passed the Tax Specialist Admission Examination by National Tax Administration Agency and completed his training course at National Tax College as a qualified tax examiner in Japan. He is a Certified Practising Accountant in Australia.
