Only 2,043 graduates of the law schools established since April 2004, following adoption of the nation's legal reform, passed the bar exam for 2009, according to the Justice Ministry. This is a poor performance in view of the 2,500 to 2,900 graduates who were expected to pass the test. These law schools, which now number 74, were created to help satisfy a national demand for legal professionals who could provide high-quality services.
The schools accept people who studied law at the undergraduate level as well as those who majored in different subjects or who have job experience in nonlegal fields. Results of the bar exam indicate that the schools, especially those whose graduates performed poorly, need to make stronger efforts to provide a better education.
The first bar exam for these law school graduates was held in 2006. The ratio of successful applicants was 48 percent that year but fell to 40 percent in 2007 and 33 percent in 2008. Despite this downtrend, the number of successful applicants rose each year.