| Category: Legal Services |
Kei Komuro might be the most headline-grabbing lawyer you’ve never heard of.
Komuro on Tuesday is set to marry Japan’s Princess Mako, the niece of Emperor Naruhito and a member of the Imperial Family. The couple’s arduous four-year engagement has generated intense public scrutiny in their home country, though Komuro, who joined Lowenstein Sandler this fall, until recently flew largely under the radar in the United States.
They have drawn comparisons in the press to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in part because Komuro isn't a royal and because many in Japan disapprove of the match.
Komuro graduated in May from Fordham University School of Law and took the New York bar exam in July. He is listed as a law clerk in Lowenstein’s New York office, in the firm’s corporate and tech groups. (Firms often designate new associate recruits as law clerks while awaiting their bar results. Lowenstein did not respond to requests for comment on Komuro’s status. Fordham law officials declined to comment on Komuro’s time on campus.)
The same day as Komuro's Oct. 26 wedding, he will also be recognized by the New York State Bar Association’s Business Law Section as the winner of its annual writing competition for his article, “Compliance Problems in Website Accessibility and Implications for Entrepreneurs.”
The couple met as undergraduates in Tokyo and announced their engagement in 2017. But their wedding plans were put on hold after a Japanese tabloid reported on a financial dispute involving Komuro’s mother and public sentiment soured.
Komuro enrolled at Fordham Law in 2018 and didn’t return to Japan until late September. Japanese paparazzi photographed him off campus sporting shaggy hair and Crocs—prompting more finger wagging back home.
Japanese royals play a ceremonial role in the country and have no political power, but they are closely watched by the public. As is customary, Princess Mako will officially leave the Imperial Family when she and Komuro marry due to his status as a commoner. She is foregoing a one-off $1.35 million payment to women who exit the Imperial Family. The couple is skipping a wedding ceremony and will instead register their marriage at a government office before settling in New York.
~ Via Reuters |
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