White Paper on Attorneys 2016

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Feature: International Activities of Lawyers and the Role of Bar Associations

Chapter 1 Activities relating to Public-interest, Human Rights, Achievement of the Rule of Law, etc　…　4

1.1	International Human Rights Activities	4
	1.1.1 Current Situations Surrounding Japan, and Problems Faced by Japan	4
	(1) Current Situations Surrounding Japan in the Field of Human Rights	4
	(2) Facing Problems	4
	(3) Roles expected of legal professionals and bar associations	4
	1.1.2. Activities at the United Nations (UN) and International Conferences	4
	1.1.3. Activities Related to the UN Human Rights Bodies and the UPR	6
	1.2. International Cooperation	7
	1.2.1. Current Activities of the JFBA and the Role of Attorneys	7
	1.2.2. Past and Current JFBA Assistance Projects for Bar Associations in Developing Countries (by Country)	7
	1.2.3. JICA Long-Term Experts Achievement	10

Chapter 2 Activities relating to the Legal Profession and the Role of Bar Associations　…　12

2.1	International Exchange Activities	12
	2.1.1. Current Situation and Issues Faced	12
	2.1.2. Membership of International Organization	12
	Column: Making the next leap with Asian legal professionals; the 30th LAWASIA Conference 2017 in Tokyo	14
	2.1.3. MOUs between the JFBA and Overseas Bar Organizations	15
	2.1.4. MOUs between Local Bar Associations and Overseas Bar Organizations	15
2.2	Overseas Visiting Fellow Program	17
	2.2.1 JFBA Overseas Visiting Fellow Program for Attorneys Engaged in Public Interest Activities	17
	2.2.2 JFBA Overseas Visiting Fellow Program for Attorneys Practicing in the Field of International Business	20
2.3	Support for Working in International Organizations	20
	2.3.1 Implementation of Various Seminars and Events	20
	2.3.2 Information Service Using Mailing List, etc.	21
	2.3.3 Implementation of Judicial Apprentice Training and Internships at the Offices of International Organizations in Japan	21
	2.3.4 Establishment of Support Organizations	21
2.4	Support Program for Attending International Meetings	21

Chapter 3 Activities to Strengthen the Structure for Providing Legal Services Supporting Various Legal Needs in Society　…　23

3.1	Promotion of International Practice by Attorneys	23
	3.1.1 JFBA’s Activities to Promote International Practice by Attorneys	23
	3.1.2 Activities by Local Bar Associations to Promote International Practice by Attorneys	25
3.2	Legal Assistance for Overseas Business Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises	26
	3.2.1 Current Status of JFBA Activities	26
	3.2.2 Lawyer Referral System for Japanese SMEs going Overseas and its Partner Organization Accreditation System	27
3.3	Relationship between JFBA and Partner Organizations	27

Chapter 4 The Future of the JFBA's International Activities　…　29

Part 1
Current Situation of Attorneys and Other Legal Professions　…　30

Chapter 1 Population of Attorneys　…　30

1.1	The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and the Number of Attorneys		30
1.2	Constitution According to Age		32

Chapter 2 The Number of Populations relating to Legal Professionals　…　33

2.1	The Status of the Number of Applicants for Law Schools and Enrollment of People	33
2.2	The Status of Successful Bar Examination Candidates	34
	2.2.1 Pass Rate of Bar Examination	34
	2.2.2 Situation Surrounding the Preliminary Examination for the Bar Examination	36
2.3	The Number of Legal Apprentices who Have Completed Legal Training per Chosen Profession	37
2.4	The Number of Judges, Prosecutors, and Attorneys	39
2.5	Comparison of the Total Number of Lawyers, Judges, and Public Prosecutors with those of Foreign Countries	40
	2.5.1 The Number of People per Lawyer (Cross-country Comparison)	40
	2.5.2 The Number of People per Judge (Cross-country Comparison)	40
	2.5.3 The Number of People per Public Prosecutor (Cross-country Comparison)	41
	2.5.4 The Number of People per Legal Professional (Cross-country Comparison)	42
2.6	Changes in Populations of Other Legal Professions	45

Chapter 3 Mergers of Law Offices and the Current Situation of Legal Professional Corporations　…　46

3.1	The Number of Attorneys in Law Offices	46
3.2	Current Situation of Legal Professional Corporations	48
	3.2.1 The Number of Legal Professional Corporations	48
	3.2.2 Size of Legal Professional Corporations	50

Chapter 4 Current Situation of Gaikokuho-Jimu-Bengoshi ("Registered Foreign Lawyers")　…　51

4.1	Changes in the Number of Gaikokuho-Jimu-Bengoshi	51
4.2	Registration of Gaikokuho-Jimu-Bengoshi (Registered Foreign Lawyers)	52
4.3	Situations regarding Alliances with Foreign Law Joint Enterprises	53
4.4	The Number of Foreign Lawyers Employed by Attorneys and Legal Professional Corporations	55
	4.4.1 By Nationality	55
	4.4.2 By Home Jurisdiction	55
4.5	World Law Firms and Their Entry into the Japanese Market	57

Part 2
Activities of Attorneys　…　58

Chapter 1 Criminal Advocacy Activities　…　58

1.1	Duty Attorney (Toban Bengoshi) and Court-Appointed Attorney Systems for Suspects	58
	1.1.1 Outline of Duty Attorney and Court-Appointed Attorney Systems for Suspects	58
	1.1.2 Current Situation of the Duty Attorney (Toban Bengoshi) System	59
	1.1.3 Changes in the Number of Duty Attorney Requested Cases, Appointed Cases, and Criminal Suspect Defense Aid Cases	60
	1.1.4 Public Defense System Available Prior to Indictment	61
	1.1.4.1 Operation Status of Court-Appointed Attorney System for Suspects	61
	1.1.4.2 Permission or Rejection for Detention Requests	62
1.2	The Status of Defense Attorneys Involvement in the Overall Criminal Cases	63
	1.2.1 The Status of Court-Appointed Attorney Contracts and the Number of Defendants with Court-Appointed Attorneys	63
	1.2.2 Changes in the Percentage of Retaining Criminal Defense Counsel (after Indictment) (Court-Appointed and Privately Retained) at District Courts	63
	1.2.3 Changes in the Percentage of Retaining Criminal Defense Counsel (after Indictment) (Court-Appointed and Privately Retained) at Summary Courts	64
	1.2.4 Changes in the Percentage of Defendants Retaining Criminal Defense Counsel (after Indictment) (Court-Appointed and Privately Retained) at High Courts	65
1.3	Defense Activities in Juvenile Cases	65
1.4	The Lay Judge System	67
	1.4.1 Cases Determined by Lay Judges	67
	1.4.2 Actual Practice of Lay Judge Trials	69
	1.4.2.1 The Number of Persons Who Have Been Subjected to Saiban-in (Lay Judges) Trials and Have Been Finalized	69
	1.4.2.2 Comparison of the Average Period Taken for Court Deliberations and the Average Period of the Pretrial Conference Procedure (by confession and denial), etc.	69

Chapter 2 Activities in Civil and Other Lawsuits　…　72

2.1	Civil Lawsuits	72
	2.1.1 Attorneys’ Involvement in Ordinary Civil Lawsuits before District Courtsurts	72
	2.1.2 Attorneys’ Involvement in Ordinary Civil Lawsuits before Summary Courtsrts	73
	2.1.3 Changes in the Percentage of Appointed Attorneys in Ordinary Second Instance Trials (before High Courts)	74
2.2	Supporting Activities for Criminal Victims	75
2.3	JFBA Support Activities for Affected People in Relation to the Great East Japan Earthquake	76
	2.3.1 Recommendations, etc. the JFBA has Issued and Legislation and Systems Realized	76

Chapter 3 Expansion of Attorneys’ Activities　…　78

3.1	Current Situation of In-house Attorneys	78
	3.1.1 Changes in the Number of In-house Attorneys	78
	3.1.2 Situation of Public Officers with Fixed Terms	79
3.2	Actual Situation of Attorneys - From the Survey Conducted in 2015	81
3.3	Diet Members and Head of Local Governments Registered as Attorneys	81

Part 3
Activities of the JFBA and Local Bar Associations　…　82

Chapter 1 Autonomy of Attorneys 　…　82

1.1	Complaints and Dispute Conciliations	82
	1.1.1 Complaints against Attorneys	82
	1.1.2 Dispute Conciliation	83
	(1) Number of Dispute Conciliation Cases Newly Received	83
	(2) Handling of Dispute Conciliation Cases (All Bar Associations)	83

1.2	Disciplinary System for Attorneys and its Operation	84
	1.2.1 Summary of the Disciplinary System for Attorneys	84
	(1) Request for Discipline	84
	(2) Investigation by Disciplinary Enforcement Committee	84
	(3) Examination by Disciplinary Actions Committee	84
	(4) Filing of an Objection, etc.	85
	1.2.2 Statistics Regarding Disciplinary Actions	87
	(1) Changes in the Number of Newly Accepted Requests for Disciplinary Actions (All Bar Associations)	87
	(2) Details of Handling the Requests for Disciplinary Actions (All Bar Associations)	88
	(3) Ratio of Disciplinary Actions (All Bar Associations)	89
	1.2.3 Operation of the Disciplinary System	90
	(1) Cases Handled by Disciplinary Enforcement Committees of Bar Associations and the JFBA	90
	(2) Cases Handled by Disciplinary Actions Committees of Bar Associations and the JFBA	91
	(3) Cases Handled by the JFBA Board of Discipline Review	93
	1.2.4 The Flow and Current Situation of Disciplinary Procedure	93

Chapter 2 The JFBA's Activities involving Human Rights Redress 　…　94

2.1	The Operation of the Human Rights Redress System	94
	2.1.1 Procedures for Human Rights Redress System	94
2.2	Current Situation Regarding the Retrial Cases Supported by the JFBA	97
	2.2.1 Retrial Cases Supported by the JFBA	97
	2.2.2 Achievement by the JFBA for its Support on Retrial Request Cases	97

Part 4
Comprehensive Legal Support　…　100

Chapter 1 Japan Legal Support Center (Ho-terasu) 　…　100

1.1	Scope of Operations of Ho-terasu		100
1.2	Support Operations Entrusted by the JFBA		101

White Paper on Attorneys 2016

Contents