How to become a Lawyer

Uses specialist legal knowledge to handle civil and criminal cases, protecting clients' interests, resolving disputes and defending people accused in criminal cases.

Main tasks

• Acting for parties in civil cases, filing lawsuits, mediation applications and objections
• Making statements, presenting evidence and arguing in court to protect clients' interests
• Defending accused people and suspects in court in criminal cases
• Acting for young people in court in juvenile hearings
• Meeting and contacting accused people in custody and applying for bail and for evidence to be preserved
• Working outside the courtroom, such as questioning witnesses off-site and attending expert examinations at the scene
• Lodging appeals with higher courts when clients disagree with a judgment or decision
• Negotiating a settlement when the court recommends one
• Negotiating out-of-court settlements between the parties
• Giving legal advice and advising on contracts and declarations from a legal point of view
• Handling office work such as drafting contracts and wills that comply with the law
• Managing property as guardian of an adult under guardianship
• Handling corporate legal work and guiding and advising on running shareholders' meetings
• Filing legal proceedings to help companies restructure their business
• Rebuilding bankrupt companies as a trustee appointed by the court
• Guiding and advising national and local governments on their policies on request
• Advising on and handling lawsuits and other proceedings over medical negligence
• Advising on company mergers and acquisitions and helping with documents and negotiations
• Selling off assets as administrator of an estate and passing them to people with a connection to the deceased or to the state
• Giving talks on the law
• Writing law books and articles for law journals
• Serving on bar association committees

Workers in this job say university or a master's degree is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

You can become a lawyer (bengoshi) by studying at a law school for three or two years, passing the national bar exam, training as a legal apprentice and then registering on the roll of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. People who cannot attend law school can also sit the bar exam if they pass the preliminary exam. During legal apprentice training you learn practical work at courts, public prosecutors' offices and law firms around the country. Lawyers start their careers by being registered on the roll after a registration review by one of the 52 bar associations across Japan and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. New lawyers often work at a law firm and learn while helping senior lawyers with their work. Law schools are the core of the new system for training legal professionals and have had some success, such as producing lawyers with a range of experience and abilities. However, people have also pointed out problems, such as falling numbers of law school applicants and gaps in teaching quality between law schools.

Ways in

• University: Law & Justice degrees, Offered by 49 universities in Japan
• National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 司法試験. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

• Average annual income: ¥9,811,100 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
• Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥463,100, and the middle half earn ¥353,300 to ¥725,300 a month.
• Pay measured for the wage survey group: Legal workers
• 0.80 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Judge
• Public Prosecutor

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Questions people ask

How do I become a Lawyer?

You can become a lawyer (bengoshi) by studying at a law school for three or two years, passing the national bar exam, training as a legal apprentice and then registering on the roll of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. People who cannot attend law school can also sit the bar exam if they pass the preliminary exam. During legal apprentice training you learn practical work at courts, public prosecutors' offices and law firms around the country. Lawyers start their careers by being registered on the roll after a registration review by one of the 52 bar associations across Japan and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. New lawyers often work at a law firm and learn while helping senior lawyers with their work. Law schools are the core of the new system for training legal professionals and have had some success, such as producing lawyers with a range of experience and abilities. However, people have also pointed out problems, such as falling numbers of law school applicants and gaps in teaching quality between law schools.

How much does a Lawyer earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥9,811,100 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Legal workers, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Lawyer?

Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 99% of workers are university graduates.

Will AI change the work of a Lawyer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026