Tomoko Okamoto

"I joined the Allen & Overy Tokyo office in March 2010 as a Revenue Controller in Finance and I am now currently an Accountant in the Tokyo office. As a Japanese national educated in England and Tokyo, working in one of the most international environments in Japan has been a real privilege, and allows me to make use of my language abilities.

The finance team in Tokyo was smaller than what I was used to. It was my first time joining a Law Firm so everything was new to me; the structure of the firm, speed of work, communication skills to interact with partners, associates, other support staff and clients in the banking and government sector. I was in charge of Billing and at the time, the biggest challenge was to handle our accounting software – 3E which was just implemented and the system was very temperamental and to provide work in a short time frame. Though the international and diverse environment at Allen and Overy was ideal, the job prospects were not enough and I decided to leave the firm in May 2012.

Having worked at various different accounting roles such as general accounting, treasury, project management in the retail industry for few years after leaving the firm, I had the opportunity to return back to A&O in July 2016. Compared to other companies I have worked for, the firm is extremely innovative and open to new technologies. After returning back to the firm, as an Accountant, my role is wide such as leading Financial Closing for month end and fiscal year end as well as monitoring revenue side and daily accounting. Every day is a challenge and learning process. I am pleased to be back with the Tokyo Office."