A special committee for law schools, etc. of the Central Council for Education University Subcommittee was held at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and it was reported that the number of law schools recruiting students in 2019 will be limited to 36 schools nationwide.Due to the outflow of human resources to the newly introduced preliminary examination, it is becoming out of the options for students aiming for the legal profession, and there were only three law schools nationwide, including Hitotsubashi University, that filled the capacity in 2018.
According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the law school was introduced as a pillar of judicial reform along with the lay judge system.At the start of 2005, 74 schools were set up nationwide, with a total enrollment capacity of 5,825, but as the number of applicants decreased, student recruitment was suspended one after another. become.
In 2018, 39 schools recruited students, but only 3 schools, Hitotsubashi University, Meiji University, and Konan University, had successful applicants who met the capacity.Yokohama National University, Kinki University, and Seinan Gakuin University will stop recruiting from 3, partly because the number of students has been declining for a long time.With this, 2019 schools have been abolished or the recruitment of students has been suspended, and more than half of the schools at the start have disappeared.
The law graduate school, which continues to recruit students, is also reducing the enrollment capacity, and Nihon University and Komazawa University have a cumulative pass rate of the judicial examination in the 20% range, Konan University, Senriyama University, Kansai University, Tsukuba University, Ryukyu. Five universities are sluggish at the 5% level.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology wants to rebuild the system by partially modifying it, but there are criticisms that the legal community has lost its raison d'etre, and there is a possibility that it will be forced to undergo a drastic review.
