弁護士
日本の弁護士の制度は、明治時代になり近代的司法制度の導入とともにフランスの代言人（advocat）に倣って創設されたもので、「代言人（だいげんにん）」と呼ばれていた。ただ、代言人の地位は決して高くはなく、軽蔑されることも多く、また、初期にはきちんとした資格制度が存在していなかったために、中には悪質な者も存在した。
法学教育
In 2004, the Japanese Diet passed a law allowing for the creation of graduate level law school that offer a J.D., or Hōmu Hakushi (法務博士). The 2006 bar examination was first in Japanese history to require a law school degree as a prerequisite. In the past, although there has been no educational requirement, most of those who passed the examination had earned undergraduate degrees from "elite" Japanese universities such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University or Hitotsubashi University. With this new law school system came a new bar exam, with a 40–50% passage rate which is capped by a numerical quota. Applicants are now limited to taking the exam three times in a five year period. Despite the much higher bar passage rate with the new exam, due to the quotas, approximately half of Japanese law school graduates will never be admitted to practice. The new system also reduced the apprenticeship period at the Legal Research and Training Institute to one year.