2003”N5ŒŽ18“ú

May 18.  Studying in Japan. A continuation of the previous post. I was asked about an internship in a law office in Japan arranged through the University of Hawaii. Alas, as far as I know, no such thing exists. However, I did have an internship with the advertising agency, Dentsu, when I participated in the Santa Clara University's summer program in Tokyo.  My other work in a Japanese law office was simply work--not an internship--found through an alumni connection when I was studying in Kyoto (on a Japanese Ministry of Education Scholarship.).  Also, during the 18 months I was studying in Kyoto I tagged along with Professor Dan Rosen when he was taking students from the Loyala University summer law program in Kyoto to tour the Japanese Supreme Court building and meet law students at Waseda University. Temple University has a pretty well-known semester in Japan program, too, but I have never even been on their Tokyo campus. At least, not yet.  What I'm trying to say, I guess rather indirectly, is that if you want to STUDY law in Japan, there are at least two summer programs (Loyala and Santa Clara) and one full semester program (Temple) that you can participate in and get US law school credit. Of course, you can also do various programs in other countries, too. I've known a couple of people who worked in Japanese law offices in various capacities.  I even suspect a couple of these lawyers-to-be were working legally illegally. How often do the immigration authorities raid law offices, after all?  There are endless variations on this subject...and I look forward to covering them all this year. Let me hear from you! 8:02:10 PM    comment []

I've gotten three questions about finding legal work in Japan.  There are two ways to do it. The best overall way is to pass the bar and work in your own country for a couple years (as much as this might seem like torture for people who are missing Japan while in law school). Working in your own country  (for me, the USA) gives you credibility with Japanese law firms and with potential future employers when you eventually have had enough of Japan. Of course, I did not do it this way. As soon as the bar was over, I came to Tokyo and started answering ads and faxing and emailing and phoning potential employers.  Since I did not know if I had passed the bar at that time, I was not able to say I was a licensed lawyer.  I was actually pretty sure I had not passed the bar, so I was looking at legal assistant and legal secretary positions for a while, too.  I just wanted to get my foot in the door in Tokyo. I had two Japanese law firms, one in Osaka and one in Tokyo seriously interested in me after two months of really scary searching. As soon as I heard that I passed the bar, the Tokyo firm made me an offer and the Osaka firm asked me to come in for another interview.  I was tired of the job hunt, so I just took the offer in Tokyo. My feeling is that there really is a lot of work here for people willing to do translation, editing, and rewriting, maybe in addition to more standard legal work (and maybe not).  It's just very hard to find someone who wants you enough to go through the hassle of hiring a foreigner, sponsoring the visa, and so on.  Human beings, in general, distrust strangers, and the more alien (foreign) you are, the more extreme this problem is. On top of this, you have to be not just patient, but relentless, when you go searching for a job in a bad economy. It's tough to get the job, tough to do the job, tough to keep the job. Just accept that, and be flexible, and everything will be fine. 6:34:15 PM    comment []

I joined the legally-inclined weblogs webring. Here is the link: < ? law blogs # > 10:40:28 AM    comment []