Jaclyn Kawagoe works in the transactional department, as well as our real estate practice group.  As a former summer associate and clerk of the firm, she focused her efforts as much as possible on business and real estate transactions, particularly for agricultural clients and family-owned businesses. Jaclyn is detail-oriented and enjoys drafting and editing in order to create the most clear, straightforward, consistent, and correct document, which fully serves the client’s purposes. She’s also worked on mergers and acquisitions, private placement of securities (SEC exempt), covenants and restrictions for real estate use, employment contracts, and estate planning, and has a great interest in water law.

Jaclyn became interested in justice, broadly defined, in college and began exploring career options which would serve those ends. One summer, she volunteered with California Rural Legal Assistance (a direct-services legal aid) in northern California, and she fell in love with the practice of law. Law engages Jaclyn intellectually, and it allows her to use her skills and talents, and most importantly, it was a way for her to make a difference in others’ lives. She discovered transactional law during her first summer of law school, when she worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of General Counsel in San Francisco. She immediately knew that was the kind of law she wants to practice. She passionately believes that it is a privilege to participate with the client in creating something new and good in the world, and the possibilities of what can be done are almost endless. A true “law geek,” Jaclyn really enjoys the work itself; she loves how it is detail-oriented, and she enjoys trying to craft the best possible version of the document. She receives great satisfaction when she has the opportunity to create a clear, beautiful, concise document that achieves her client’s aims and is completely understandable.

Outside of the office, Jaclyn loves hiking, backpacking, and just being in the mountains. She thinks that it’s a huge blessing to live in Fresno and be so close to two national parks and several national forests. Jaclyn also enjoys reading, cooking, and tending her collection of potted plants, and she hopes to soon be able to start a garden.

• J.D., University of California, Davis School of Law
• B.A., with distinction, Stanford University
• Certificate, King Hall Public Service Program
• Order of the Coif
• Phi Beta Kappa

OTHER EXPERIENCE

• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Water Law

• Best Lawyers in America®, Ones to Watch – Real Estate Law, 2024

• California

• French, Proficient