Career History
A ONE-MAN FIRM WHICH SUDDENLY GREW VERY BIG: Shigekuni first started practicing law representing a small computer software development company, a one-man firm, which was instrumental in setting up computer departments for the large companies which up to that time did not have computers in their businesses. When the one-man firm first started, Tom wondered how a one-man firm could possibly get contracts to develop computer departments for giant multinational manufacturing companies that controlled the electronics and small automobile manufacturing and importing businesses in America.
GIANT MANUFACTURERS BENEFITED FROM TOM’S WORK: The large companies operating in the USA which were just setting up offices in the USA were such worldwide companies such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sony, and practically every large overseas manufacturers in the USA from Japan. Shigekuni drafted contracts between the small firm he represented and the giant corporations. The one-man firm set up by Shigekuni quickly grew to over 600 employees and had over 500 computer experts working in key departments in most of the giant multinational manufacturers.. Although the giant electronic and automobile manufacturers had full knowledge that Shigekuni was drafting contracts for the establishment of computer departments for almost all of their major competitors, they had confidence in Tom’s ability to maintain confidentiality among the competitors.
FILLING A GAP FOR CLIENTS: Very early on, Shigekuni discovered that no matter how sophisticated the technical men he worked with were, they hardly thought about estate plans incorporating Wills, trust, powers of attorneys, health care directives, and other devices to protect their families in preserving their hard earned assets. He quickly developed the early-day living trusts and Pour Over Wills with their supporting documents. Many of the early trusts that he developed in collaboration with leading trust experts of the day basically are still used today when sophisticated estate planning is needed. Some of the trust plans developed by Tom and associates in the 1970s are still very popular today showing that they were viable plans that fit the changing tax laws over the 30 to 40 years past.