Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation
for Professional Graduate School of Global Legal Studies

Keio University Law School
Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Legal Practice

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2021
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.1.2022– March.31.2027）

Keio University Law School Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Legal Practice

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Keio University Law School Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global
Legal Practice

The Keio University Law School Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Legal Practice wasfounded in 2017 with the aim of nurturing individuals who can succeed globally aslegal professionals and serve as legal staff for global corporations and internationalorganizations. The LL.M. Program provides education primarily intended for lawyers
and graduates from other law schools hoping to improve their practical legal English
skills, international students who are interested in Japan and Asia, and college graduates
aspiring to work at international organizations. Forming part of the Keio University
Law School, the LL.M. Program was the first professional graduate school in Japan tobe established alongside a legal professional training program (law school). The
program offers all classes in English and awards a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree thatcan, in principle, be earned in one year.
Previously, global legal human resources could only be trained at foreign
graduate schools. However, the LL.M. Program allows such training to be conductedin Japan, making it a highly significant program. The program’s objective of training
global legal professionals (continuing legal education: CLE), legal staff for entities
such as global corporations and international organizations, and foreign legal
professionals in an integrated fashion is a distinctive feature. In the area of education,
the LL.M. Program has a program in which students can apply for membership with
the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), offering subjects for the program suchas Arbitration, Mediation, and Negotiation, as well as case study subjects in intellectualproperty, for example. These classes adopt highly practical educational methods, suchas groupwork sessions involving mock arbitration by students, which is commendable.
Furthermore, the LL.M. Program awards professional certifications in five fields. These
professional certifications are expected to gain social recognition and acceptability as
the program’s value is enhanced going forward. Another distinctive feature of the LL.M.
Program is that in order to help students prepare a research paper necessary to apply
for CIArb membership, it offers an extensive collection of foreign books in the Media
Center (library) and allows students to use an English writing proofreading tool,utilizing the resources of the University and Law School.
As described above, the LL.M. Program’s educational endeavors are significant
in the context of legal professional education in Japan, and the program’s initiatives for1

Keio University Law School Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Legal Practiceenhancing international acceptability and promoting practical education are remarkable.
However, broadly speaking, the following four issues were identified.
First, initiatives to ensure educational quality by systematically verifying
education and making improvements are lacking. Specifically, as the program’s efforts
to gather opinions from students and identify/analyze the situation of graduates areinsufficient, efforts should be made to identify/analyze learning outcomes in anappropriate manner. Additionally, the relationship between the program’s advisoryboard and the Collaboration Council for Educational Program formed by the Law
School is unclear, and it is necessary to gather opinions from the business communityand other circles from the perspective of training global legal human resources. TheJUAA hopes LL.M. Program makes improvements to its curriculum and in other areas
on the basis of opinions from students, graduates, and external parties.
Second, in relation to the first issue, the LL.M. Program needs to ensure theappropriateness and objectivity of assessment of academic achievement. Regarding theassessment of academic achievement in individual subjects, the assessment method isclearly presented in the syllabus, and a rough grade breakdown is provided inpercentage terms. In cases where percentages exceeding those of the breakdown areused, the reason is supposed to be clearly presented in written form. However, inpractice, there are cases where documents stating the reason are not prepared or where
no clear reason is presented. Therefore, the program should perform assessment ofacademic achievement in a rigorous manner in accordance with its own rules. Moreover,the program should create a system for students to make inquiries about the assessmentof academic achievement as such a system does not currently exist.
Third, there are issues in the area of providing an environment suitable fortraining global legal professionals. The program accepts Japanese and international
students toward achieving the objective mentioned above. Due in part to the fact that
all classes are held in English, the program has garnered the interest of many students
from Asia and Europe, and over half of the students currently enrolled are from abroad.
As the program has set the desired ratio between Japanese and international students, it
should create more publicity among Japanese students, corporations, and government
agencies to develop an appropriate environment.
Fourth, the LL.M. Program’s systems and organizations are based on those of alaw school due to the fact that the program was established as a department of the Law
School that was previously established as an independent law school, but the program
needs to clarify its own organizational structure. Important issues pertaining to theprogram are discussed by the Law School Committee that serves as the deliberative2

Keio University Law School Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Legal Practicebody of the Law School, while the regularly held LL.M. Staff Meeting considers anddiscusses daily matters, thus playing an important role. However, as no organizationalrules have been established for the meeting, the program should stipulate thecomposition and purview of the meeting. In addition, the LL.M. Program sets a limiton the number of credits students can register for in a year in accordance with the law
school standards. However, since the program sets a standard completion period of one
year and is designed as a professional graduate school program that students cancomplete by earning 30 credits, the program should review the system to ensure thatstudents can create a balanced course schedule in line with the required number ofcredits for completion. As it is important to develop a functioning system that provides
guidance for taking courses to ensure a balanced course schedule, improvements should
be made in this area too.
The JUAA hopes the LL.M. Program recognizes the issues from the results ofthis Certified Evaluation and Accreditation for Professional Graduate School and theself-study results and makes improvements accordingly. As noted earlier, the program
plays a significant social role, conducting educational and research activities that
contribute to the development of globally competent legal professionals. Therefore, theJUAA hopes the LL.M. Program accurately identifies and analyzes the achievements
in human resources development and other areas and publicly disseminates thisinformation, thereby developing a greater significance and role in society in line withits goals.

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