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Japan’S Legal Education Reforms From An American Law Professor’S Perspective, Jeffrey Lubbers

Reports

This paper describes and analyzes Japan’s reform of legal education. This reform that began in 2004—a new system of legal education, coupled with changes in the national bar examination and in the national legal training institute for successful exam-takers—was part of a wideranging national law reform movement in Japan. As a result, 74 universities across Japan established graduate-level “law schools,” most of which were added to pre-existing undergraduate law departments. The new law schools provide a degree equivalent to an American Juris Doctor (JD) degree. These law degrees became the main prerequisite for taking the national bar exam. The pass …