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Legal Education Report - Nada Junior and Senior High School
- Nishimura & Asahi's legal education project
Background
Nishimura & Asahi’s legal education team is dedicated to introducing the legal profession and mentality of legal professionals to students. As part of this initiative, Tokyo associate Kazuki Yoshii, an alumnus of Nada Junior and Senior High School, worked closely with teachers at Nada to conduct an informational class.
Nada hosts a regular lecture series called Saturday Lectures, introducing students to alumni from a variety of fields who share their professional journeys. Nishimura & Asahi associates Hajime Akamatsu, Kazuki Yoshii, and Yuta Kuse presented for the class.
Encouraging student participants to experience thinking from a legal perspective firsthand and gain a sense of a lawyer’s process, Akamatsu, Yoshii, and Kuse planned an interactive, role-play style workshop opposed to a traditional lecture format. They even developed a new case study specifically for this seminar. A range of students participated, from second year junior high to second year senior high school students.
Overview
The two case studies demonstrated how legal thinking can create harmony among conflicting interests in society and how lawyers contribute to both discussion and resolution of issues.
The first case study focused on resolving conflicting interests through negotiation. Students engaged in simulated negotiations between hypothetical stakeholders—a local company, a Japanese investor, farm owners, and workers—based on a hypothetical situation where child labor was discovered on a farm in a developing country.
The second case study was about establishing a new domestic regulation that needed to align with international law. The hypothetical scenario involved a country introducing a new environmental regulation. Students role-played negotiations between the government of the country, affected domestic and foreign businesses, exporting governments, and environmental advocacy groups.
Students spent three hours engaging in strategic negotiations and developing legal arguments based on these carefully crafted hypothetical scenarios. They actively participated and engaged in discussion. Many creative legal arguments and solutions were proposed, some of which exceeded the planning team’s expectations and offered new insights to the lawyers themselves.
Student Feedback
“I learned for the first time how law connects with negotiation. I realized that the law can help resolve or mitigate conflicts, and, at the same time, can be used as a tool during negotiations.”
“The workshop was a fresh and exciting experience. I learned how difficult it is to reach a conclusion that satisfies all parties, especially when each stakeholder has their own perspective and position, and compromises are necessary.”
“It was a valuable opportunity to learn what lawyers actually do in practice. I also came to understand the role of law in negotiations.”
“It felt like discovering a new profession.”
“The group discussions were something we never do in regular classes, so I really enjoyed them. It was a great experience.”
“It was fun to think about how to push and pull during negotiations. I even started to think that pursuing a legal career might be interesting.”
Lawyer Reflections
Hajime Akamatsu, associate
I was impressed by how the students understood complex stakeholder relationships and engaged in negotiations from different perspectives. I believe they experienced the challenges and importance of consensus in real-world society. For me as well, it was an opportunity to reflect on my daily practice, and I gained many insights from the session.
Kazuki Yoshii, associate
We had some concerns that this scenario—which was designed to present realistic and multifaceted legal issues—might be too complex; however, our concerns were proved entirely unfounded. Thanks to the students enthusiasm and strong critical thinking skills, we had an engaging and lively discussion. I would be delighted if we were able to appeal the practice of law to these students—encouraging them to think logically from diverse perspectives and seek reasonable solutions.
Yuta Kuse, associate
Although the case studies involved the difficult task of coordinating interests with multiple stakeholders, the students proposed ideas beyond what we anticipated, which resulted in rich and meaningful discussions. I hope that, through this experience, the students were able to appreciate both the challenges and the excitement of legal negotiations, and that they developed an interest in the legal profession.
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