When FN asked Carmen what was rewarding about her job she had her answer ready: “Simply put it’s the ability to help people who’re in trouble. That’s why we learn law.” Carmen arrived in Fukuoka to do her Masters in International Economic Law at Kyushu University, and has since embarked on Doctorate study in Maritime Law, in hopes of reforming the law concerning marine oil pollution. In the meantime she volunteers her time at the Otsuka law firm, handling cases in English and her native Spanish while other lawyers work in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian. Carmen has also developed Otsuka’s website, so that internationals can get advice in all six languages about their first steps in the event of a dispute. “Foreigners here can feel lost,” says Carmen, “and when they have legal problems they often can’t cope”. She and the Otsuka team have stepped in to provide assistance to internationals in everything from traffic accidents to labor cases. www.otsukalaw.com
Lawyer/PHD Law student
4 years
Dominican Republic
Originally published in Fukuoka Now magazine (fn124, Apr. 2009)
