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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. 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 one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...

Japan

, are authorized to represent their clients in real estate 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 formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

and

mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

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 lawyer 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 enabled to p ...

s and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

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 profession.

South Korea

has a similar profession known as ''beommusa'' (). 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'' (, Attorney at Law) to undertake litigation, while banning 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