Under Japan's judicial reform to nurture legal professionals who can meet the increasing needs of citizens in law-related matters, 74 new law schools have been set up since 2004. The government hoped that 2,900 to 3,000 of their graduates would annually pass the bar exam. But the results of this year's bar exam, the fifth under the new system, aren't so hot.
A record 2,074 graduates passed the exam, 31 more than in 2009 but still much less than the hoped-for 2,900 to 3,000. The success rate was a record low of 25.4 percent.
The division of law schools into good- and bad-performing ones has become clear. Half of the successful applicants came from the top eight schools. More than a dozen law schools each produced five or fewer successful applicants; their success rate was only around 10 percent. One law school, which has produced only three successful applicants in five years, decided to stop taking students in and after fiscal 2011 and to close eventually.