Globalization of Japanese Lawyers: Achievements,Challenges, and Expectations of American Law Schools

Globalization of the legal profession is ever relevant, as the ideology of globalism is challenged in many places around the world today. The most controversial backlash against globalization was the U.S. presidential election, held only a few weeks before the UC Hastings College of the Law symposium on the globalization of the legal profession. In the last twenty years, the legal service industry has transformed dramatically and has grown exponentially as part of the global economy, especially with the growth of global financial industries. Should globalization be criticized, the global legal profession may undergo criticism as well. As Dr. Stiglitz points out, it is a question of imbalance of legal power or “asymmetries of information” to which I will refer again later. It may be said that the global legal industry is overly dominated by common law doctrines as well as British and American professionals, which is one of the potential reasons that prompted the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 to quickly spread throughout the world. Whether in the common law world or not, many claim that the GFC left enduring economic crutches that most seriously affect noncommon law countries. Provided that the aforementioned observation is correct, the value of globalization ought to be reexamined and its framework may need reconsideration