Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation for Law School

Keio University Law School

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: PrivateLocation: Tokyo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2022
Accreditation Status: accredited（Accreditation Period: April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2028）

Keio University Law School

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation
for Keio University Law School

Keio University Law School (“the Law School”) operates in accordance with Keio
University’s founding philosophy, aiming to develop students’ deep knowledge andsuperior skills required of highly specialized professions in law through educationand research of both theory and practice, and strives to produce a wide range ofhuman resources that the legal profession requires in the 21st century through acurriculum grounded in the principles of internationalism, multidisciplinarism andpioneerism.
Under the concept of “independence and self-respect” advocated by Keio
University’s founding father, Yukichi Fukuzawa, the Law School provides legal
education by drawing on its history and tradition of creating leaders of the times, andin keeping with the University’s overarching mission of contributing to thebetterment of the international community through training competent professionals
who can lead the 21st century. To achieve its educational objectives, the Law School
implements the following unique strategies.
First, in keeping with the three principles mentioned above, the curriculum
provides a broad-based legal education, offering some 150 advanced and applied
courses in the eight fields of public law, civil, criminal, social, international, interdisciplinary, basic foreign law, and global studies, including numerous themed
exercise and research courses. The Research Paper course, in particular, imparts not
simply standard knowledge required of legal practitioners but foundational
education to develop lawyers with exceptional, more specialized expertise, namelyaspiring scholars of jurisprudence. Advanced Research Paper I and II, writing-skills

courses for students considering a career in research, are commendable initiatives
that have contributed to the development of skilled legal practitioners andjurisprudence scholars. The Law School also offers a wide variety of externshipopportunities to meet student needs and interests, ranging from law firms andgovernment offices to companies and overseas organizations, and many students takepart in the externship program. Especially notable are the overseas externships, rareamong Japanese law schools. Furthermore, courses such as the Basic Program,Workshop Program, Forum Program, and Themed Exercises taught by practitioner
instructors demonstrate the curriculum’s emphasis on small classes and practice. Inaddition, there are a number of extracurricular learning support programs, for1

Keio University Law School

example, a group-based learning support seminar for first-year students and alearning support seminar for second- and third-year students. Instructed by young
alumni lawyers as fixed-term part-time associate professors, the seminars areconducted in collaboration with regular courses to promote the understanding of theregular course content, develop skills in preparing legal documents, and enhance theeffectiveness of the graduate program by catering to individual student needs. The
Law School also offers a support seminar for its graduates who fail to pass the barexam. This is an admirable initiative providing follow-up support to graduates as animportant responsibility of law schools.
As a result of the strong, broad-based education it provides, the Law
School’s bar exam success rate is excellent, consistently ranking among the top
schools from AY2017 to AY2021.
There are several areas the Law School needs to improve, however, withthe first being the grade inquiry process. It is the policy of the Law School that course
instructors respond to student questions or concerns about the basis or objectivity ofgrading during office hours or other prearranged times, but there is no school-wide
grade appeal process in place. Considering that course grades are published outside
the regular class term, when it is difficult for students to take advantage of officehours, students who raise questions about their grades may be forced to abandon theappeal process. The current grade appeal process is clearly inadequate and needs tobe reviewed and improved going forward.
The second area for improvement is the requirements for first-year
students to advance to the next level. The Law School waives the grade point average(GPA) and other advancement requirements for a certain score on the Common
Achievement Test. The use of test results in determining student advancement should
be reviewed.
The third area for improvement concerns the inadequate rules andprocesses on information disclosure, an issue that requires coordination with otherdepartments and offices of the university. This issue was pointed out during theAY2017 certified evaluation and accreditation, and should be reviewed taking into
account the rules and regulations being developed across the institution.
To solve these issues, the Law School is expected to use the review’s
results to improve and continue its self-study efforts, thereby further enhancing andassuring the quality of its education while developing its unique characteristics.

2