Susan J. Onuma advises publicly and privately held organizations on the many legal issues involved in doing business in the United States. In addition to representing clients in discrete matters, she is regularly called upon to serve as outside general counsel for the US subsidiaries of Japanese corporations. In this capacity, she guides management in all facets of their business operations to ensure their awareness and compliance with the myriad regulations and laws that affect them, including those dealing with corporate governance, employment, export controls, antitrust, creditor’s rights and immigration. Susan’s clients operate in a wide spectrum of industries including chemicals, consumer goods, food, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, medical products, retail and hospitality.

While Susan focuses her practice on mergers, joint ventures, acquisitions and general commercial transactions, she often helps clients to navigate the intricacies of US litigation, including deposition preparation and management of the discovery process. She also represents individual clients with respect to their business interests, and estate planning and administration.

Prior to joining Ingram, Susan was a partner with Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. A longtime leader in business and civic organizations that support the Japanese and Japanese American community, Susan currently serves as the President of the Japanese American Association of New York, Inc. She is also on the Board of Governors of the Japanese American National Museum and is a founding board member of the US-Japan Council. She serves as Corporate Secretary to the Japan Society in New York and is on the Board of Directors of the NY Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. In 2008 she was selected one of the Top 50 Women in Business by NJBIZ Magazine. In 2014 she received the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation for her work in furthering US-Japan relations and in 2015 was awarded the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award. In 2020, she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Government of Japan.

Education:

• J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School
• B.A., Barnard College (cum laude)
• Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, Tokyo
   

Languages

• English
• Japanese