"Judicial scrivener" is a term used to refer to similar legal professions in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. Judicial scriveners assist clients in commercial and real estate registration procedures and in the preparation of documents for

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

Japan

, are authorized to represent their clients in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

registrations, commercial registrations (e.g. the incorporation of companies), preparation of court documents and filings with legal affairs bureaus. Judicial scriveners may also represent clients in summary courts,

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...

and

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

proceedings, but are not allowed to represent clients in district courts or more advanced stages of

. The more familiar term "solicitor" is also sometimes used to refer to them, although the division of responsibilities is not the same as between

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

s and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

s in the English legal system. The term "judicial scrivener", while somewhat archaic in tone, is a fairly accurate literal translation of the Japanese term. Judicial scriveners must pass an examination administered by the Ministry of Justice. The examination tests knowledge of twelve Japanese statutes, the four principal ones being the Civil Code, Real Estate Registration Act, Commercial Code and Commercial Registration Act. (The Corporations Act was added to the examination in 2006.) The examination consists of two written tests followed by one oral test; the overall pass rate is 2.8%. A person may also become qualified as a judicial scrivener by working for ten years as a court secretary, judicial secretary, or prosecutor's secretary. Judicial scriveners must maintain a membership in the for the prefecture in which they work. They can be found in solo practice or attached to law firms as employees of attorneys at law. A small number of judicial scriveners work as in-house counsel for companies, but there are strict conditions for registration of in-house judicial scriveners.

History

When Japan adopted a Western-style court system in 1872, it established a profession of to represent clients in the preparation of documents, alongside the who represented clients in courtroom arguments (this latter profession became known as in 1890). A 1919 statute established a separate tier of to handle court documents. The modern ''shihō shoshi'' title was adopted under a revised statute in 1935, which was superseded by a new law in 1950. The other half of the ''daishonin'' profession was replaced by the

administrative scrivener is a legal profession in Japan which files government licenses and permits, drafts documents, and provides legal advice around such interactions. They are also known as Immigration Lawyers, Gyosei-shoshi Lawyers or Certified Administrative Procedur ...

profession.

South Korea

has a similar profession known as ''beommusa''(Hangul: , Hanja: ). This is officially translated as "Certified Judicial Scrivener". It is noteworthy that ''beommusa'' cannot represent client in court in any litigation, since South Korea strictly allow only ''byeonhosa''(Hangul: , Hanja: , Attorney at Law) to undertake litigation, while ban paralegals from undertaking or even participating in litigation.

Taiwan

has a similar profession known as a "land scrivener" (土地代書, short for 土地登記專業代理人).

References

External links