One day, it suddenly struck me: more than eleven members of our firm (Kensei Law Offices) play soccer, and quite a few of them are reasonably skilled. That made me wonder, “Hold on — if you measured this on a ‘per-law-firm’ basis, aren’t we actually the strongest soccer law firm in Japan?”

That said, organizing an actual tournament to crown the No. 1 soccer law firm in Japan would be enormously difficult. Every law firm carries important work for its many clients, and a full-blown “tournament” — with all the time and effort it would require — would conflict with our professional duties. Soccer, after all, can only be afforded the time and effort appropriate to “part of our health management routine.”

So I thought: what if we simply, and unilaterally, declared ourselves the “Self-Proclaimed World’s No. 1 Soccer Law Firm,” and set up a system in which any law firm that objects is welcome to challenge us (the rules are described below)? In that way, by occasionally playing matches on weekends, we could naturally and gradually determine the true world’s No. 1 soccer law firm.

And because we are only “self-proclaimed” world’s No. 1, we are not actually claiming to be the world’s best, so there is no risk of being accused of false representation. After all, it is “self-proclaimed.” But because it is self-proclaimed, we will go ahead and proudly call ourselves the world’s No. 1.

And so, the inaugural Self-Proclaimed World’s No. 1 Soccer Law Firm is Kensei Law Offices. We look forward to your challenge.

• At first, we thought calling ourselves “the world’s No. 1” might be a bit too cheeky. However, on May 17, 2026 (Japan time), Team Japan won the Lawyers’ World Cup (Mundi), and three players from our firm were in the starting lineup. In light of that, we figured it would be acceptable to call ourselves the “world’s No. 1.” Well, it is self-proclaimed after all.