LOS ANGELES— The Los Angeles Times named Covington lawyers Taisuke Kimoto and Kate Kraus to its Private Equity and M&A Visionaries list, which honors the premier architects behind middle-market liquidity, corporate turnarounds, and enterprise transformation.
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 to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence: M&A, Leading Professionals in Their 40s, and Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys lists.
One of the country’s leading authorities on partnership tax, Kate is a partner in Covington’s Los Angeles office. With more than 20 years of experience in tax planning, transactional advice, and tax controversy representation, she advises on a wide range of partnership, corporate, and real estate matters, including joint ventures, fund formations, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and REIT transactions. Kate is the author of the Bloomberg Tax Management Portfolio on the BBA partnership audit rules, for which she was named Bloomberg BNA Tax Portfolio Author of the Year in 2023, and she serves as co-chair of the Practicing Law Institute’s Understanding the BBA Partnership Audit Rules conference. She is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. Kate has previously been named one of the Los Angeles Times’ Legal Visionaries and to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence: Banking & Finance, Women of Influence: Finance, and Women of Influence: Attorneys lists.
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