University of Michigan News Service – UM News

Tokyo legal education symposium first of its kind

EDITORS: For further information or access to Prof. West, contact Nancy Marshall at (734) 764-6375 or nancylm@umich.edu.

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan Law School and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations are conducting a joint symposium in Tokyo on Feb. 26. Titled “Inside the American Law School: Its Essence, Its Reality, and Its Potential in Japan,” the symposium is designed to assist Japan in its transition to a legal education system based on the model of U.S. law schools.

“U-M Law School is the only law school in the world ever to host a major symposium like this in Japan. We are very excited about the Japanese Bar’s decision to collaborate with us,” says Mark West, assistant professor and director of the Law School’s Japanese Legal Studies Program.

Evaluating their legal education system fits in with Japan’s overall desire to improve public access to the judicial system. As the Japanese system exists now, there are about 18,000 lawyers in the country, approximately one attorney for every 7,000 people. And, according to West, “nearly one-third of all court districts in Japan have only one or no lawyers.” In addition, there are only about 600 corporate transactional lawyers in a country that is the world’s second largest economy. Other needs include an organized plaintiffs’ bar and criminal defense bar, and “there is a drastic need for solo practitioners outside of Tokyo to handle divorces, children’s rights cases, debt collection, neighbor disputes, real estate contracts, etc.,” West says.

The conference is bringing together hundreds of Japanese legal professionals and policy-makers to provide information and discussion about the U.S. system to assist in their own planning. Law School representatives speaking at the conference will be Dean Jeffrey S. Lehman, ’81, and Profs. Merritt B. Fox; Richard O. Lempert, ’68; Suellyn Scarnecchia, ’81; Carl E. Schneider, ’79; and Mark D. West.

Topics for the program address issues of accreditation; American legal practice; the American law school classroom; ethics; student selection; and the necessary financial infrastructure of a law school.