[Updated 18 April, with a shorter version also on the East Asia Forum blog.]
A few years ago I began a research project into how the Japanese government manages its public and private law cases, working with a former LLM student from Kyushu University and experienced Australian government lawyer, Associate Professor Stephen Green (now at Doshisha University Law Faculty in Tokyo). Our paper was published last year in the Asia Pacific Law and Policy Journal. The second half of the paper is also under review for a special issue of the International Journal of the Legal Profession, focusing on the remarkably under-researched field of government lawyering.
On 6 February this year I stopped over in Seoul to visit prosecutors in Korea’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ), partly to begin comparing how Korea manages similar litigation. Information kindly provided in interviews and follow-up correspondence reveals considerable similarities, but also some significant differences compared to Japan. The backdrop and issues in Australia regarding government litigation services diverge even further, but there is much scope for mutual learning.
Continue reading “Government lawyers in Korea, Japan and Australia”