Temporary in-activation of gaiben licence

Committee:
Legal Services
status:
New
Published:
With the increased use of secondments within the legal services field, it is not uncommon that registered gaiben temporarily leave Japan and then come back to again practise foreign law in Japan. For a domestic lawyer it is possible to either (1) continue paying their bar membership fees while remaining on the bar tills with their original registration number or (2) stop paying fees whilst temporarily suspending their license only to re-activate it when returning to Japan through a simple application process. This is not possible for a gaiben. The only thing possible for a gaiben is to re-apply from scratch. The EBC sees no reason for this blantant discrimination of foreign lawyers.

Recommendations

  • Japan should immediately extend the same possibilities given to domestic lawyers to foreign lawyers in this regard.