Continuing from last year, Chuo University is ranked in 2nd place

On September 10th, the Judicial Examination Committee at the Ministry of Justice announced the number of examinees who passed the New National Bar Exam in the 2009 academic year. The New National Bar Exam is taken by students who have completed postgraduate law schools. The number of passing examinees from Chuo University was 162. Continuing from last year (196 passing examinees), our university was ranked 2nd among graduate schools.

The number of students this year was the highest ever, with 7,392 students from a total of 74 postgraduate law schools sitting for the examination. The number of passing examinees was 2,043, and it was the first time that this number was lower than the previous year (2,065 passing examinees). Also, the passing rate decreased for the 3rd consecutive year to 27.64%, the first time in history that this rate was below 30%.

Following the initial implementation of the New National Bar Exam, the government planned to gradually increase the number of passing examinees. Government policy called for an increase to 3,000 passing examinees in 2010. However, it appears that it will be difficult to achieve this goal. There is also a serious gap between postgraduate law schools, with the top 10 schools producing 57% of all passing examinees. Furthermore, the passing rate for examinees with full-time employment was a low 18.87%. This number has created increased concern that full-time workers will be more prudent in regards to entering the legal profession.

(Offered by: Gakuin Jiho, Issue 458)