This paper analyzes the practice of legal assistants at law firms in Japan. Lawyers sometimes say that legal assistants should acquire more legal knowledge and legal skill than now for the rational management of law firms. The process of providing legal services at law firms is constructed not only of legal knowledge and legal skill, but also of many communications among lawyers, clients and legal assistants. This paper argues that, for lawyers, teamwork with legal assistants is an important part of reasonable legal practice.
