Why the Japanese Law School System Was Established: Co‐optation as a Defensive Tactic in the Face of Global Pressures

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (02) ◽  
pp. 365-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayumi Saegusa
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
Law School ◽  
Judicial Reform ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Global Institutions ◽  
System Solution ◽  
The Face ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Japanese Law ◽  
Absolute Control

In the face of pressures to expand the rule of law, in 2004, Japan introduced a new law school system in order to produce more and better qualified lawyers. This article explains why the new law school system solution was selected from among other alternatives such as reforming the national bar exam, abolishing mandatory legal training, reforming existing legal education, or redefining the jurisdiction of lawyers. I argue that the law school system was adopted because the legal establishment co‐opted pro‐law school scholars and other reformists. Although American‐style law schools have been introduced in Japan, power has not yet shifted entirely from the legal establishment to the pro‐law school scholars; while the legal establishment may no longer have absolute control of the Japanese judicial arena, it remains powerful because it successfully co‐opted pro‐American elites into judicial reform. By analyzing the case of the Japanese law school system, this article indicates that transplants of global institutions may often be more symbolic than practical due to co‐optation tactics used by powerful local actors.

scholarly journals Law School as Social Innovation

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 225
Author(s):  
Lorne Sossin
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Law School ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
The Face

Legal education is in the midst of a range of challenges and disruptions. This address outlines these dynamics, and explores the potential of social innovation as a model for law schools which both responds to current challenges and enhances resilience in the face of disruption. By reframing legal education as facing outward, and advancing its public interest mandate through partnerships, collaboration and academic initiatives designed to solve social problems, law schools can enhance the student learning experience, generate new forms of legal knowledge and thrive at a time of rapid change. Address delivered at the Australian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) 2016 Conference in Wellington on 8 July 2016.

The State of Legal Education in Japan: Problems and “Re”-Renovations in JD Law Schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuyuki SATO
Keyword(s):  
Community Service ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law School ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
Judicial Reform ◽  
Legal Service ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Considerable Pressure

AbstractIn Japan, the Juris Doctor (JD)-style law-school system was introduced in 2004 as part of a judicial system reform. As of late, this system seems to have become dysfunctional. The pass rate of the national bar exam (NBE) is around 20% every year, and the NBE puts students are under considerable pressure. “Re”-renovation of legal education is, thereby, a huge and pressing issue. Reducing the number of JD students could be a quick solution to the current problems. However, this is not enough, nor is it good for fostering legal professionals “rich both in quality and quantity” (the second aim of the judicial reform). Legal education should go beyond the NBE. The Japanese government and law schools have just begun to re-renovate legal education, giving priority to three challenges: (1) offering continuous legal-education programmes for practitioners; (2) enhancing community service and supporting career development of graduates in the new legal service area; and (3) internationalization. How can the Japanese legal-education system go beyond the NBE? Re-renovation deserves continued attention.

scholarly journals Preparing for Service: A Template for 21st Century Legal Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Madison
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
The Face ◽  
Individual Faculty Member ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
The Individual

Legal educators today grapple with the changing dynamics of legal employment markets; the evolution of technologies and business models driving changes to the legal profession; and the economics of operating – and attending – a law school. Accrediting organizations and practitioners pressure law schools to prepare new lawyers both to be ready to practice and to be ready for an ever-fluid career path. From the standpoint of law schools in general and any one law school in particular, constraints and limitations surround us. Adaptation through innovation is the order of the day.How, when, and in what direction should innovation take place? Who should lead, guide, and participate? These are questions often asked in both legal education in particular and in higher education in general. Rarely are answers accompanied by specific examples, strategies, or programs. This paper offers precisely that specificity. It documents one institution’s process and output, beginning with the concept of innovation in the face of multiple challenges and proposing one set of concrete, actionable strategies, tactics, and programs. These range from school-wide interventions to ideas for use at the level of the individual faculty member and course.The purpose of making the paper available is to note merely that if innovation is a hill to be climbed, then it can be climbed. The process and results may be more valuable if they are shared with others, even if the particular route documented here is not the only one available and may not the best for all times and places.

Legal Reform, Law Firms, and Lawyer Stratification in Japan

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayumi Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Law School ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Judicial Reform ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Law School Graduates

AbstractIn many countries, the size of a law firm is closely related to the specializations and incomes of the lawyers it employs, and can be considered an index for disparities among lawyers. Gender and school prestige may affect the size of the first firm that lawyers join. Moreover, since the lawyer population has quadrupled over the last 20 years in Japan, mainly due to judicial reform, I hypothesize that this population increase has changed how gender and school prestige affect the size of the first firm law school graduates decide to join. To test this, I conducted a secondary statistical analysis on the effect of gender and school prestige on the size of the first firm that lawyers joined, using survey data collected by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in 2010. Findings suggest that there were no significant differences in the size of women’s and men’s first employer, but that school prestige was significant. Moreover, the importance of school prestige has increased over the years.

Affirmative Action and Aboriginal Government: The Case for Legal Education in Nunavut

1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Gallagher-Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Gap ◽  
The University ◽  
And Training

AbstractThe Nunavut Land Claim Agreement commits federal and territorial governments to the recruitment and training of Inuit for positions throughout government. In the justice sector, there is currently a major shortage of Inuit lawyers or future judges. However, there also appears to be a fundamental mismatch between what existing law schools offer and what Inuit students are prepared to accept. A northern-based law school might remedy some of these problems. However, support for a law school requires un-thinking certain key tenets of legal education as we know it in Canada. In particular, it may require a step outside the university-based law school system. Universities appear to be accepted as the exclusive guardian of the concept of academic standards. Admission standards, in particular, serve as both a positivist technology of exclusion, and a political rationale for the persistence of majoritarian institutions as the major means of training members of disadvantaged communities. Distinctive institutions – eventually working with university-based law schools – have the potential to help bridge the education gap between Inuit and other Canadians. In so doing, they have the potential to train a critical mass of Inuit to meaningfully adapt the justice system to become a pillar of the public government in the Inuit homeland of Nunavut.

scholarly journals A Medical/Legal Teaching and Assessment Collaboration on Domestic Violence: Assessment Using Standardized Patients/Standardized Clients

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoinette Sedillo Lopez ◽  
Cameron Crandall ◽  
Gabriel Campos ◽  
Diane Rimple ◽  
Mary Neidhart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Standardized Patients ◽  
Law School ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Carnegie Foundation ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Education Association ◽  
Standardized Clients

<p>Assessment of skills is an important, emerging topic in law school education. Two recent and influential books, Educating Lawyers published by the Carnegie Foundation and Best Practices in Legal Education, published by the Clinical Legal Education Association have both suggested dramatic reform of legal education. Among other reforms, these studies urge law schools to use “outcome-based” assessments, i.e., using learning objectives  and assessing knowledge and skills in standardized situations based on specific criteria, rather than simply comparing students’ performances to each other. </p>

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