The author presents four sociological conditions which determined the development and pattern of handling of legal matters for businesses in Japan since the pre-war period. Firstly, the functions and roles of attorneys in corporate and business world were limited and underdeveloped. Non-lawyers played various and important roles within and outside companies and corporations to handle legal matters for business. Secondly, some companies retained a specific law firm continuingly as their legal adviser and litigator in case of litigation. They were known as “komon-bengoshi.” [retained attorney as counsel]. Thirdly, large corporations began to establish a legal department staffed mainly with non−lawyers in the 1960s. Fourthly, a limited number of corporate law firms specializing in foreign and international legal matters for corporate clients were founded in Tokyo. Since the mid−1990s, changes in the above conditions have begun to emerge. More newcomers into the private legal practice start their profession in Tokyo. Tokyo has begun to absorb more young attorneys. The largest law firms in Tokyo have accelerated their growth in size since the late 1990s. Medium-sized and large law firms also have begun to increase their number now. The numbers of Gaikokuho-jimu-bengoshi [registered foreign lawyer] and Japanese attorneys employed by business corporations and national government agencies have also increased. The author suggests that these changes reflect a great transformation in corporate clients’ legal needs in the context of structural change of the Japanese economy.
