Executives

Kira represents public and private sector clients in real estate development through all phases of the due diligence, acquisition, design, planning, permitting, and environmental compliance process. She has led complicated projects across varying sectors, flexing her expert ability and strategic approach to managing multiple consultants and stakeholders in a dynamic setting. Kira has advised clients on local, state, and federal land use and environmental laws, including the California Environmental Quality Act, National Environmental Policy Act, California Subdivision Map Act, and California Housing Accountability Act. Her work includes some of the most transformative planning and research projects in urban communities spanning the commercial, residential, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. Kira also represents developers and management in traditional labor law issues, including union negotiations.

Her experience includes advising lenders, prospective buyers, and owners on development opportunities, risks, and value-based strategies through due-diligence investigations; negotiating and obtaining complex land use entitlements such as General Plan Amendments, Zone Changes, Development Agreements, Vesting Tentative Tract Maps, and Conditional Use Permits; and appearing before governmental agencies, commissions, and legislative bodies.

Kira has been an engaged leader in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community for over a decade. Among her many accomplishments, she serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Little Tokyo Service Center; the Board of Governors of the Japanese American Bar Association (serving as President in 2021); Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Politics Committee of the U.S.-Japan Council; Board of Directors of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, and Co-Chair of the Politics Subcommittee of the Next Generation Japanese American Leaders Initiative of the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles.

She was recognized as a Southern California Rising Star in 2020 through 2022 by the publishers of Super Lawyers. From 2022 through 2024, Kira was named among the “Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch” by U.S. News and Best Lawyers. In 2023, Kira was recognized with the prestigious Best Under 40 award by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, which is awarded to talented individuals within the AAPI legal community nationwide who have achieved prominence and distinction in their fields of endeavor and demonstrated a strong commitment to AAPI civic or community affairs. Kira has a bachelor’s degree from University of California, San Diego, where she graduated magna cum laude, and studied abroad for a year at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. She obtained her J.D. from Southwestern Law School, where she was Special Projects Editor of the Southwestern Law Review.