The Crisis of the Bar Exam and Legal Education in Japan

Japanese new JD program has confounded not only law students, scholars and lawyers but also politicians and media. In this paper, I will briefly tracked the difference between Old and New bar exams with regard to the number of applicants they have attracted, in comparison to M.D. and Pharmacist programs. Some arguments on related but discursive topics will follow. As a traditional profession, lawyers’ status has been so prestigious and they are assured of high income. Therefore the bar exam, the main gate for being lawyers, have attracted the most talented students, at least it is supposed to be so even now. Recent decreased number of applicants for the new JD program seems to show that those students who are capable avoid going to law schools. Some local bar associations strongly opposed to the rapid increase of lawyers. However, it was repeatedly discussed that the more bar exam passers caused the less qualified legal professions.