Overview of the School of Law
• Date of Foundation and Summary
The School of Law of Waseda University was founded in 1882, originally as the Department of Law of Tokyo Senmon Gakko, before being renamed Waseda University in 1902. Since its inception, the School provided education incorporating the innovative educational style of the newly established Harvard Law School, with the objective of fostering legal professionals. In the period of 125 years since then, our School has produced many talented individuals with high ideals and enterprising spirits, who have contributed to society in a wide range of fields including law, politics, government, industry, the media, and so on.

• Mission
The School of Law of Waseda University strives to instill talented individuals with a sense of law that is truly needed in Japanese society. Our School of Law has produced many excellent legal professionals and, after Japan moved to the new National Law Examination system in 2006, the School has continued to send a large number of students to Waseda Law School and other graduate law schools. Our School of Law plays many other roles in addition to educating legal professionals, and there are many graduates from the School of Law of Waseda University who have thrived in the spheres of politics, economics, culture, and the arts. The School of Law of Waseda University strives to remain Japan’s leading institution for fostering legal professionals. It achieves this through education founded on two principles: On the one hand, the School offers specialized legal subjects to give students a firm grounding for pursuing a variety of career paths, and on the other hand, the School provides language and general educational subjects to give students a broad knowledge beyond their specialized legal subjects and to encourage them to view the world from a wider perspective.

Special Features
• Subject-taking model (Major)
The School of Law of Waseda University has no academic departments or courses, but rather, operates using a Major/Minor system. Through this system, the School of Law provides educational programs that can be useful in following the various career paths chosen by students, encouraging them to learn in a gradual and systematic manner without limiting their potential.

Firstly, the Major system centers on specialized legal subjects and encourages students to take subjects designed to assist them to learn systematically and comprehensively in preparation for their future career plans and paths. Specifically, the students enroll in subjects according to several subject-taking models in a particular package from their first to fourth year, and then comprehensively complete the studies with a seminar. We offer six subject-taking models designed to suit a range of career paths: Civil Law, Criminal Law, International Relations, Public Policy, Corporations and Finance, and Civil Society and Law.

Civil Law and Criminal Law
The Civil Law and Criminal Law models are offered for students aiming to serve as legal professionals. The models are for those who wish to enroll in graduate schools of law to pursue careers as judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, through not only learning systematically about their specialist fields but also through the provision of a solid foundation in foreign languages and general education subjects, all of which are designed to prepare them for our contemporary society, which is becoming increasingly complex, information-based, and internationalized.

International Relations
This model is for students wishing to become diplomats, international officials, or to pursue careers as legal professionals or business persons dealing with international transactions, and the like. Subject groupings are offered to encourage students to systematically study subfields such as International Law, International Organization Law, International Relations Law, International Transaction Law, and International Private Law.

Public Policy
This model is for those who wish to serve as national local and national public servants, as well as officers in the public sector, non-profit organizations, and other administrative and public policy sections. The students systemically study Japan’s Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Public Administration, Law and Policy, Public Finance, Information Law, Education Law and other subjects.

Corporations and Finance
This model is for students wishing to use their legal knowledge in the legal departments of corporations and in the corporate world. The students learn the dynamic transition of the law in market and finance through such classes as Commercial Law, Corporate Law, Financial Collateral Law, Security Law, Insurance and Maritime Commercial Law, and Economic Law.

Civil Society and Law
This model is designed for those who wish to pursue careers in the media, publishing, welfare, and other similar fields. Students are able to acquire abilities which will assist them in understanding issues concerning the environment, consumers, the media, families, politics, economics, arts and other matters closely related to civil lives from a range of different perspectives, and in objectively addressing such issues.

• Subject-taking model (Minor)
In addition to the above Major system, a Minor system is also available for students. In universities outside of Japan, a Minor system often refers to a joint degree program where students may simultaneously take specialized subjects from different departments or schools in addition to their primary major within their own department or school. However, the minor system in the School of Law refers to taking a course of subjects related to foreign languages, history, culture, and other subfields of the humanities and social sciences in order to develop students’ interest in issues and to give them a broader perspective of the world.
In the School of Law, 10 Minor courses are offered. These are in a range of different fields, including regional studies focusing on various aspects including language and culture (English-language Area Studies, German-language Area Studies, French-language Area Studies, and Chinese-language Area Studies), introductory studies (Culture and Representation Studies, Linguistics and Information Sciences, and Historical and Philosophical Studies), and social studies (Political Science, Economic Science, and Business and Industry Studies).

• Three-year Graduation System
The School of Law has introduced a three-year graduation system, which allows students to graduate from the School of Law in just three years instead of the regular four years. This system increases the incentive to study and paves the way for excellent hard-working students to enter graduate school or a professional field one year early. It should be noted, however, that the requirements for three-year graduation are strict, and the system is viewed as an exception. Concretely, outstanding students may qualify for three-year graduation based on their academic results upon completing their second year. About 10% of all students qualify for the three-year graduation (and the number of students who actually graduate is even smaller).

Departments	Degrees
There are no departments in the School of Law.	B.A. in Law

【Subjects Available】

Introductory Education	Introductory Education (Lecture), Introductory Education (Seminar)
Compulsory Subjects	Constitutional Law, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Commercial Law, Law of Civil Procedure, Law of Criminal Procedure
Fundamental Legal Theories	Philosophy of Law, History of Philosophy of Law, Sociology of Law
Foreign Legal Systems	French Law, German Law, Anglo-American Law, Latin American Law, Chinese Public Law, Chinese Private Law, Russian-Middle Eastern European Law, Roman Private Law
History of Legislation	Japanese Legal History, Modern Legal History of Japan, Western Legal History, History of Roman Law, History of European Law, Chinese Legal History
Administration (Public Policy)	Public Administration, Study of Law and Policy, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law (International Comparisons), Local Public Administrative Law, Taxation Law (General), Public Finance, Administrative Dispute Law, Bureaucracy, Taxation Policies, Formative Process of Foreign Policy, International Taxation Law, Educational Law, Mass Communications and Media Law, Environmental Law
Civil Law	Various subjects are available
Criminal Law	Various subjects are available
International Relations	Various subjects are available
Social Life	Various subjects are available
Commercial Law	Various subjects are available
Languages	English, German, French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean
Seminars	Many seminar classes in a variety of specialized areas are available for 2nd – 4th year students.