Annelise Riles, Jack G. Clarke Chair in Far East Legal Studies and Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University Law School

Takashi Uchida, Former Professor of Law, University of Tokyo

The founding of a new law review is an opportunity to reflect on the wider purposes of legal education. This is increasingly a comparative question as law becomes a transnational field of practice, and the American model of legal education is emulated around the world. Consider the case of Japan. In
April of 2004, a new so-called “Law School” (rosukuru) system was introduced. For over a century prior to this reform, legal education had been provided at the undergraduate level on the European civil law model. As many commentators have enthusiastically noted, the primary model for the new law school system was without a doubt the American law school system.