Association of Bengoshi with Offices in Tokyo

Tokyo is the world's leading megalopolis with a population of 13 million and reaches nearly 35 million, if nearby prefectures are included.

There is a high volume of business activity in Tokyo, where commerce, industry, finance and entertainment rapidly develop, and many companies place their head offices in Tokyo.

There are also many public institutions located in Tokyo. These include not only municipalities under metropolitan and district government control, but also central government offices and a variety of non-profit corporations and organizations.

In terms of courts, the Supreme Court, the Tokyo High Court, Intellectual Property High Court, Tokyo District Court and Tokyo Family Court (as well as branches for the latter two courts in nearby Tachikawa) are located in Tokyo. In addition, there are nine summary court locations.

Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association is an organization comprised of lawyers with offices in Tokyo. There are two other bar associations in Tokyo. Lawyers qualified in Japan are free to work nationwide.

The bar association regularly receives requests for, and provides, referrals for Bengoshi from corporations, organizations, metropolitan governments, municipalities, central government offices and courts. The fields of activity of our members are expanding, with participation as judges (including the Supreme Court), prosecutors, mediators/arbitrators, youth custodians, bankruptcy trustees, court appointed defense counsel and members of various administrative agencies.

International Exchange

Dai-Ichi Bar Association, in view of the situation where various legal issues arise in terms of both economic activity and civil life in connection with globalized politics, economy and society, established the International Exchange Committee in August 2003 to encourage many members to acquire an international sensibility in order to make a satisfactory response to international issues and serve across borders as international contributors in the legal field.

The Committee promotes its international exchange activities positively and actively, by planning exchange events for conducting various research and studies, visiting counterpart countries to exchange information with bar associations in each country and holding joint seminars under the theme of hot button legal issues.

So far, we have entered into friendship agreements and carried out exchange activities with eight bar associations, that is, the Law Society of England and Wales (October, 2003), the Hawaii State Bar Association (October, 2005), the Shanghai Bar Association (January, 2006), the California Lawyers Association (April, 2007), the International Law Section of the American Bar Association (July, 2008), the Frankfurt Bar Association (July, 2009), the Thai Bar Association (June, 2015), the Dalian Bar Association (October, 2017), the New York State Bar Association (January, 2020), and the Kaohsiung Bar Association (September, 2020).

We are also concurrently planning the first exchange visit to countries and areas that have achieved remarkable economic development in recent years before signing a friendship agreement. So far, we have made exchange visits to the Hanoi Bar Association and the Indonesian Advocates Association (PERADI).

In the future, Dai-Ichi Bar Association will continue to expand the flow of international exchange and promote its activities with the aim of building up further networks in the legal profession.