The head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations said Thursday that opening the Japanese trial system to participation by citizens will be inevitable because society is moving toward civic authority.

Kazumasa Kuboi, president of the 18,000-strong association, said in a lecture in Tokyo organized by K.K. Kyodo News, a Kyodo News affiliate, that judicial reform, which is now being studied by the government, is part of a wider trend toward shifting power to citizens.

He also said people should cooperate with legal professionals in trials as a means to self-determination.