WSJ: Japan's Lawyers Need More Crime and Bankruptcies
05/28/2017
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From the Wall Street Journal:

Japanese Lawyers’ Problem: Too Few Cases

A government-engineered boom in lawyers ends badly, with low crime and falling bankruptcies

By Mitsuru Obe April 3, 2016 4:11 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan is struggling with an unlikely problem: Its people aren’t litigious enough.

Fifteen years ago, the nation kicked off a plan to double the number of lawyers. Officials thought they could breathe dynamism into society by mimicking the Western legal system, where courts are more involved in settling issues such as consumer safety and corporate malfeasance.

But Japan’s new lawyers have failed to make a winning argument for why they are needed. The number of regular civil cases filed each year hasn’t budged in a decade. With crime near a record low and bankruptcies plunging, many lawyers are pleading poverty. …

Mr. Sakano said the overhaul ignored cultural differences with the U.S., whose law schools served as a model.

“A system that works in a heterogeneous society like the U.S. may not necessarily be suited to Japan,” he said. “Japanese have shown preference for more informal means of resolving disputes, such as through private negotiation mainly between the parties involved.”

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