Kanako Watanabe

Experience

Kanako Watanabe is a Partner at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune with more than 17 years of professional experience. She works on various corporate matters in Japan and overseas, with a primary focus on domestic and cross-border restructuring and insolvency cases, corporate and commercial transactions, and M&A cases. She is also well experienced in government investigations and crisis management cases.

Specialty

Watanabe specializes in restructuring, insolvency, and bankruptcy matters. Her key practice areas include Restructuring/Insolvency and Bankruptcy, Corporate law, M&A, and Government Investigations and Crisis Management. Within the bankruptcy and restructuring field, she has expertise in out-of-court workouts as well as in-court insolvency proceedings, such as corporate reorganization and civil rehabilitation proceedings, and has been appointed by courts as trustees in bankruptcy cases.

Education

Watanabe completed the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan from 2007 to 2008. She earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia in April 2015 and was associated with Mayer Brown LLP in New York from October 2016 to June 2017. She was admitted to practice in Japan in 2008 and is fluent in Japanese and English.

Achievements and Recognition

• Recognized in The Best Lawyers in Japan 2025 (Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Profile)
• Recognized in The Best Lawyers in Japan 2024 (Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Profile; Firm News)