Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama before going overseas for college, Akira returned to attend law school at the University of Alabama. There, he combined his passions for justice and the natural world by concentrating in environmental law.
“It’s something every little kid learns when growing up: if you make a mess, you should clean it up. Unfortunately, that childhood lesson hasn’t stuck for some business leaders with respect to their obligations to their communities and the environment,” says Akira.
Akira is fired up when taking on polluters. His practice focuses on environmental litigation, and over the past several years in particular, he has helped to represent communities whose water supplies have been contaminated with PFAS chemicals from industries that used them in the manufacture of products like carpets and textiles. “When companies discharge cancer-causing chemicals into the environment, that’s a cost of doing business that the rest of us end up paying for in our water bills, in our enjoyment of the outdoors, and in our health.” Akira views his job as shifting these costs of pollution back to their source.
Akira’s work aligns with his hobbies outside of the office. Akira is an avid gardener and outdoorsman who enjoys fishing and foraging. “One of the things that offends me about the bad corporate conduct I deal with on a daily basis is that it attempts to create this false division between man and the natural world,” says Akira. “The fact that the pollutants we put into the environment can ultimately make us sick only reinforces the falseness of that division.”
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Alabama State Bar
COURT ADMISSIONS
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
HONORS, AWARDS, & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Alabama Law Review, Best Senior Editor
- The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch©, 2023-2026
- Mid-South Super Lawyers: Rising Star, 2022-2024
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Alabama State Bar – Environmental Law Section, Executive Committee
- American Association for Justice, Environmental and Toxic Torts Section
- Birmingham Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section and Entertainment Committee
EDUCATION
- University of Alabama School of Law, J.D.
- University of St. Andrews, B.A., International Relations