Courses

Columbia Law School was the first law school in the United States to offer courses in Japanese law.

Current & Upcoming Courses 

Japanese Law, Society, and Economy

Offered Spring 2023

This course provides a critical introduction to the institutions and actors that comprise the Japanese legal system. Topics covered include the legal profession, constitutional law, formal and informal dispute resolution mechanisms, family law, criminal law, and economic regulation. Major theoretical debates about the role of law in Japan are examined in connection with each substantive topic. Throughout the course, law is placed in the context of Japanese social, political, and economic institutions. For several weeks during the semester, visiting professors from the University of Tokyo Law School lead the class on topics related to their individual fields of expertise. All class materials and instruction are in English; Japanese language ability and knowledge of Japan, while helpful, are not prerequisites. Students without a Japan background are frequent and welcome participants in the course.

Previous Courses

Japanese Law and Legal Institutions

This course provided a critical introduction to the institutions and actors that comprise the Japanese legal system. Topics covered include the legal profession, formal and informal dispute resolution mechanisms, employment law, corporate law and governance, and economic regulation. During the last several weeks of the semester, visiting professors from the University of Tokyo led the class on topics related to their individual fields of expertise.

Seminar: Advanced Research in Japanese Law

Taught by Japanese lawyers as professors from practice, this course helped students develop Japanese legal research skills. Students learned how to conduct computerized and manual legal research on primary and secondary Japanese law sources and prepared translations of selected documents. Research results and translations were presented in class toward the end of the semester.