Legal Services

March 2002

The Cabinet laid out a blueprint for reform of the judicial system, with the plan calling for a bill that would allow law schools to be set up in Japan. Another bill would revise bar examinations, the law school bill is expected to be presented to an extraordinary Diet session this autumn. The proposals would also see a civil lawsuit-related bill presented to the ordinary Diet session in 2003 and a criminal lawsuit bill put before the regular Diet session the following year. The reform package, which aims for enactment of all these laws within three years, is intended primarily to increase the number of legal professionals such as judges, prosecutors and lawyers practicing in Japan. The revision of bar examinations and the establishment of law schools are aimed at increasing the number of those who pass the examination every year to about 1,500 in 2004 and 3,000 in 2010, up from the current figure of about 1,200. The government also plans to enact a law giving provisions for the settlement of international trade disputes, considered essential with the growth of cross-border electronic commerce. (March 19, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun)