Hi Blog. Blogging post here from a friend with permission. Fascinating account of how people become lawyers in Japan, and the sea change in Japan’s Bar Exam system, which people of course must pass to qualify. Won’t summarize. Read on. Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n
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Japan’s bar exam (\u53f8\u6cd5\u8a66\u9a13–shihou shiken) is no longer called that — it’s called either
\nthe \u65e7\u53f8\u6cd5\u8a66\u9a13 kyuu shihou shiken or the \u65b0\u53f8\u6cd5\u8a66\u9a13 shin shihou shiken.<\/p>\n
1. \u65e7\u53f8\u6cd5\u8a66\u9a13–the “Old Bar”<\/p>\n
Since the 1950s, Japan’s bar association has operated a very simple
\nprocedure for becoming a lawyer: pass the bar exam. That’s it. No law
\nschools. No pre-exam training. Applicants did not even have to
\ngraduate from a university. After you passed you went and did \u53f8\u6cd5\u7814\u4fee,
\nmanaged by the Supreme Court, and then you were a lawyer (or
\nprosecutor, or judge). End of story.<\/p>\n
While that might sound liberal, the results were not egalitarian — or
\nto frame it in Japanese con law terms, \u5f62\u5f0f\u7684\u5e73\u7b49\u306f\u3042\u3063\u305f\u306e\u306b\u3001\u5b9f\u8cea\u7684\u5e73\u7b49\u306b\u306f\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f, i.e.
\nthe opportunity was equal but the results were not. The pass rate was
\ntypically 1%, and half of all attorneys are from Japan’s top six
\nuniversities (Todai, Kyodai, Keio, Chuo, Waseda, Hitotsubashi). More
\nthan 90% have undergraduate degrees in law, the average attorney
\npasses the exam on the fifth try, and the average age of admittance to
\nthe bar bar is 28. That means many, many hopeful attorneys wasted
\nyears of their lives studying hard for the exam, many of whom had to
\ngive up in their 30s (or even 40s), having lost much of their young
\nprofessional lives.<\/p>\n
The exam structure is such: 60 multiple choice questions in May, pass
\nrate 20%. Then two days of essays in July, pass rate 15%. Then a
\nspoken exam in January, pass rate 95%. That comes down to about 1-3%
\nin total. The laws tested are the Constitution, Civil, Criminal,
\nCommercial, Crim Procedure, and Civ Procedure.<\/p>\n
2. \u65b0\u53f8\u6cd5\u8a66\u9a13–the “New Bar”<\/p>\n
Japan took a major step towards revolutionizing its legal sector in
\n2004 when it opened American-style law schools. The standard course is
\nthree years (or two years for students with undergraduate degrees in
\nlaw). The first “new bar exam” was held this past May, and the pass
\nrate was 48% (for comparison purposes, that’s the same as California.)<\/p>\n
However, the functional results are the same. I mean, 40,000 people
\napplied for these new schools, 3,000 got in, only 2,000 sat for the
\nexam, and 1,000 passed. So from 40,000 applicants to 1,000 lawyers
\nmeans the bar is accomplishing the same result, in that many, many
\npeople who sit for the old bar will never pass it, and rejecting them
\nfrom the get go is a more effective way of not getting the hopes up of
\npeople who will never become lawyers.<\/p>\n
The exam structure is such: Day 1 is multiple choice; Day 2 is an
\nessay on the special subject you study and the Constitution; Day 3 is
\nan essay on Civil Law; and Day 4 is an essay on Criminal Law. The
\nlaws tested are the original six, plus Administrative Law and one
\n\u9078\u629e\u79d1\u76ee: Bankruptcy, Labor, IP, International Law, Economic Law, and a
\nfew others.<\/p>\n
3. Dual regime: 2006-2011<\/p>\n
The “old bar exam” will remain in place until it is phased out in
\n2011. Anyway, it’s my intention to give this old exam an honest try
\nfor the few years that I’m working. And the weird thing is, although
\nstructurally and historically different, lots of Japanese and US law
\nis the same.<\/p>\n
4. Reasons to change<\/p>\n
There are lots of reasons to change to a new system:
\nA. A “quota” (i.e. we will admit 1,500 lawyers this year) as opposed
\nto a score (everyone over 80% passes) means that the quality of
\nlawyers varies by year in accordance with the respective competition.<\/p>\n
B. Lots of people waste years, even a decade or more of their life
\nstudying for the exam. In a society with a declining population,
\nthat’s a tough strain on the workforce and denies businesses access to
\nhiring rather smart people who are under the delusion that they can be
\nlawyers.<\/p>\n
C. Despite studying for five or more years or however many years, most
\nlawyers aren’t very good! They’re trained in the theory of law, but
\nnot the practice, and are often bookworms or introverts, and not made
\nto go out and reassure clients that they are representing them to the
\nfullest.<\/p>\n
D. The demand for lawyers had forced the pass rate up. Until 2000,
\nthe pass rate was 1%. By 2005 the pass rate was 3.8%, but lowering
\nthe bar pass rate given the incumbent exam regime just aggravated
\nproblem C.<\/p>\n
E. The lack of competent business attorneys has meant a massive influx
\nof foreign attorneys, who have maneuvered into a position where they
\ncome close to dominating the major transactions in the Tokyo legal
\nworld.<\/p>\n
That’s my summary — the long-ish version, although I could share much more…
\nENDS\n<\/p>\n
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