Adam Kennedy

Title: Business development manager
Department: Business development
Location: Tokyo


I read Business Studies, with a focus on marketing, at Middlesex University Business School in London. In December 2007 I joined Herbert Smith and spent one month working in London before moving to Tokyo.

I chose Herbert Smith because of its international presence and as part of the global business development team I work closely with offices from across our network, particularly those within the Asian and Middle Eastern regions. My role also requires me to be in regular contact with a number of our secondee's placed within major Japanese companies, which provides me with a great insight into our Asian clients.

My most memorable project to date has to be the Herbert Smith Tokyo client summer party. The brief was to promote our international capability to our significant base of Japanese and international clients in Tokyo. We had to create a suite of bespoke materials within a tight time frame, and work closely with the event management company to ensure the event was on-concept, original and memorable. The party went down extremely well with the Tokyo and international partners, as well as the 250+ clients in attendance.

Tokyo is a smaller office which encourages a culture of collegiality and a lot of relationships extend beyond the office. In my role I benefit from the office size as I am involved in initiatives across all three principal practice areas and get expertise working within various industry sectors. I also enjoy working within this environment  as there are always activities planned, from football matches against clients to team ski trips.

Everybody in the office knows each other, in most cases we've worked together and there is a feeling that we're all valued for our contribution to the successful running of the office.