専門職大学院の動向と課題

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　 On December 20th, 2003, I was at Okuma Memorial Lecture hall of Waseda University, where the foundation meeting of the Japanese association of Houka Daigakuin (Japanese law schools) was being held. All authorities who had led the Japanese judicial system reform and the executives of law schools all over the country were in the hall. I was impressed that a person, who was usually very cool, said in excitement “I had never imagined this kind of day had become real!”

　 There is some possibility that Houka Daigakuins would change not only the way of training of lawyers but also the whole scene of Japanese higher education. The introduction of this system is a major step amongst all recent efforts reforming higher education systems. But the actual settings bear many significant problems.

　 In this article I tried to seek the meaning of foundation of Houka Daigakuin system and the assignments for it.