The Comprehensive Legal Support Law was approved at the 2004 Ordinary Diet Session. The Law provided for the Comprehensive Legal Support Plan, which is designed to provide all citizens in Japan with necessary information and services for legal solutions of disputes, both on civil and on criminal affairs, so that the justice system may be utilized more easily by citizens, (On the background of introducing the plan, see p.35.)

The Japan Legal Support Center, newly established under the Ministry of Justice as an independent administrative agency, is responsible for management of the Plan.

The Japan Legal Support Center, with the purpose of promptly and properly implementing operations related to comprehensive legal support, was established in April 2006, and commenced operations in October of the same year. The basic organization of the Center is as below.

An outline of the work of the Japan Legal Support Center according to legal requirements is as follows.

- Information Services

The Japan Legal Support Center provides free information that is useful for the settlement of legal disputes, or free information on national and local governments, bar associations, judicial scriveners’ associations and the associations of related legal experts and specialists which are responsible for providing legal consultations and services.

- Civil Legal Aid

Civil Legal Aid is a system that provides persons of limited means, who have legal problem, with free legal consultations, and if necessary, refers them to legal experts such as attorneys-at-law or judicial scriveners, or grants a loan to cover the expenses of trials or lawyers and judicial scriveners.

- Measures for areas with limited judicial services

The Japan Legal Support Center provides legal services for a reasonable consideration through a staff lawyer who works for the Japan Legal Support Center in areas where it is difficult to receive legal services because of no or little presence of legal experts such as attorneys-at-law or judicial scriveners.

- Assistance for Victims

For crime victims and their families, the Japan Legal Support Center provides information on available victim aid systems for proper involvement in criminal proceedings and the recovery of damages incurred by victims and the alleviation of the pain and suffering of victims, and information on organizations providing assistance for victims, as well as referral to attorneys-at-law who specialize in assistance to victims.

- Ensuring Appointment of Court-Appointed Defense Counsel

If a person is financially unable to pay for an attorney in a criminal trial, the court (the state) can appoint a lawyer for him or her. This is the system of court-appointed defense counsel. In the past, court-appointed defense attorneys could be appointed only for defendants for whom prosecution had been instituted, but since October 2006 in some serious cases, court-appointed defense attorneys can be appointed for suspects undergoing investigation before prosecution. Further, in 2009 a new saiban-in (lay judge) system will be implemented so that members of the general public will participate in criminal trials. In order to deal with such new systems, the Japan Legal Support Center will nominate court-appointed defense attorneys and notify the courts of the nominations, as well as securing an adequate number of court-appointed defense attorneys in order to answer to the needs of courts all over the country.