Japan Press Weekly

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2011 July 6 - 12 [WELFARE]

Japan bar association in rally demands continuation of scholarship program for legal trainees

About 150 people, including lawyers and students, on July 6 attended a rally calling on the government to continue a scholarship program for legal apprentices. The rally was organized by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA).

The program was initially scheduled to be abolished at the end of October 2010. However, as a result of struggles against the abolition waged by the JFBA, legal apprentices, and their supporters, the government decided to postpone ending the program for one year.

JFBA President Utsunomiya Kenji reported that more than 300 lawyers from across the country voluntarily visited areas devastated by the tsunami and quake on March 11 to provide free consultation service to disaster victims. “Behind this volunteer activity lies many lawyers’ appreciation for the 63-year-old scholarship program and their willingness to return to the public the assistance it received to become lawyers,” he added.

Watanabe Yoko, a representative of a lawyers’ group opposing the abolition of the program, stated, “When I received the scholarship payment for the first time after becoming a legal trainee, I really felt the weight of tax payers’ expectations. I believe that such expectations we felt at that time will flower with our volunteer work providing free legal consultation to disaster victims.”

JFBA Vice President Niisato Koji expressed his concern by saying, “The aim of the scholarship program is to nurture legal professionals diversity of backgrounds. To end the program will surely lead to a decrease in the number of lawyers who are willing to join in activities to work for the socially vulnerable.”