Wakako Oshima

Wakako Oshima, a Japanese national, took a creativity break from her work as an in-house legal counsel at The Walt Disney Company in Tokyo to pursue the challenging MILE Program (Master of International Law and Economics) at the World Trade Institute, Switzerland in 2007. Coming from a services industry, her master thesis dealt with 'Cross-border Trade of Personal Data: Impact of Privacy Laws on the Private Sector and Analysis under GATS Framework'. Prior to joining Disney’s legal team as a counsel, Ms. Oshima worked as an associate lawyer at Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she focused her practice on US securities law, serving domestic and multinational companies. Before joining Shearman & Sterling, she advised clients on international trade matters at the law firm of de Kieffer & Horgan in Washington D.C. and Germany.

After the MILE, Ms. Oshima worked as an in-house legal counsel at various multinationals, including Electronic Arts, Universal Pictures International and NOKIA based in Tokyo. She has been a guest speaker at conferences and has lectured at universities, including Temple University and Aoyama Gakuin University on a wide range of topics addressing different aspects of the legal counsel’s role in multinational businesses.

Ms. Oshima now heads her consulting firm, ASTERI GROUP Corp., whose vision is to create sustainable cross-border businesses for the planet 100 years from now. Her passion (and lifework) lies in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in the research of potential role of the WTO in their development. ASTERI GROUP Corp. is a co-founder of Sustainable Japan Project that consists of partner companies from different sectors, whose aim is to holistically support clients from diverse industries and fields in the areas of sustainable trade, investment and tourism.

Ms. Oshima holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Richmond - School of Law (Virginia, U.S.A.) and is licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia and Washington D.C. She is also admitted at the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

For the WTI alumni-related activities, she has served/is currently serving as:

• A member of the Founding Working Committee at the WTI Alumni Association (WTIAA) (2021)
• The Vice President at the WTIAA’s 1st Executive Committee (2021-2023)