Urgent Recommendations on Improvement of the Professional Legal Training and Education System

• Japanese

March 27, 2011
Japan Federation of Bar Associations

 

About the Recommendations

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) adopted the Urgent Recommendations on Improvement of the Professional Legal Training and Education System on March 27, 2011, and submitted them to the Minister of Justice, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Chair of the Central Council for Education, the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Japan Association of Law Schools, and the Chief of the Legal Training and Research Institute on March 28, 2011.

 

Main Points of the Recommendations

The JFBA recommends the urgent measures as mentioned below to solve problems emerging in the new professional legal training and education system in which law schools play a central role in the basis of the philosophy of this system.

 

1. The total number of law school students in one grade should be drastically reduced through the abolition or merger of law schools and other measures with due consideration to an appropriate regional allocation of law schools and diversity of students.
2. Financial support for law school students should be enhanced.
3. The contents of the bar examination should be reviewed as most students tend to spend their time and efforts preparing for the bar examination and such circumstances are leading to undesirable impacts on the education contained in law schools.
4. The number of bar examinations which an applicant may take, currently limited to three times within a period of five years, should be temporarily expanded to around five times.
5. The preliminary examination will start next year. Its implementation status should be reviewed as well as ensuring its appropriate operation taking into account its purpose without deteriorating the philosophy of the new professional legal training and education system in which law schools play a central role.
6. Necessary introductory practice programs should be provided prior to the practice programs administered under the collaboration of judges, public prosecutors, and attorneys.
7. The allowance payment system for judicial apprentices should be maintained.
8. Measures to enhance the institutional bases for the justice system and expand the practice fields of legal professionals should be carried out.