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.