LOS ANGELES— The Los Angeles Business Journal has named Covington lawyers Tai Kimoto and David Lefebvre to its ‘Leaders of Influence: M&A’ list, a recognition of stellar M&A experts and thought leaders in the LA region.
Tai is a partner in Covington's Los Angeles office who co-leads the firm's Japan Practice, which advises a number of Japan's largest corporations as well as individuals, trade associations, and governmental agencies on their most sensitive and complex legal challenges in the United States, Europe, China, and elsewhere. His practice focuses on M&A transactions, general corporate matters, and real estate transactions for companies based in Japan, and he also serves as an outside U.S. general counsel for a number of Japanese companies, providing advice across areas including dispute resolution and employment. Licensed to practice law in both Japan and California, Tai is fully bilingual and bicultural, frequently advising on the differences between the U.S. and Japanese legal systems and the cultural dynamics embedded in cross-border deals. Since 2021, Chambers Global has recognized him among the leading lawyers for Japan Corporate/M&A and Chambers USA has ranked him Band 1 for Corporate/M&A: Deals in Asia in California. Tai has previously been named one of the Los Angeles Times’ Business of Law Visionaries and the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leading Professionals in Their 40s and a Minority Leader of Influence.
David is a special counsel in Covington's Los Angeles office and a senior commercial transactions lawyer with more than a decade of experience advising media, sports, technology, and consumer-facing companies on complex, high-stakes commercial arrangements, including the content, distribution, and platform dimensions of transformational M&A transactions. His practice spans content licensing, distribution, platform, and monetization matters at the intersection of media, digital technology, and regulated industries. David is widely known for his depth in media and entertainment transactions, including advising on carriage and distribution frameworks, direct-to-consumer offerings, and platform integrations across domestic and international markets. David recently co-led a Covington team advising Roku on content and platform distribution in its $185 million acquisition of Frndly TV and also co-led a team representing The Walt Disney Company in the media licensing aspects of its agreement to combine its Star India business with Reliance's Viacom18 in a joint venture valued at approximately $8.5 billion. He also counsels leading companies in artificial intelligence, advertising technology, and digital platforms on complex commercial agreements and regulatory-adjacent risk. David has previously been named to Variety’s Dealmakers Impact Report and one of the Los Angeles Times’ Entertainment Business Visionaries, Law360’s Media & Entertainment Rising Stars, and a Los Angeles Business Journal Minority Leader of Influence.
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