DETROIT (March 11, 2009) - Wayne State University Law School is pleased to announce a lecture by Judge Daisuke Takahara of the Tokyo District Court at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, in the third floor faculty lounge of the Law School. His lecture is titled "The Start of the Japanese-Style Jury System."

Daisuke Takahara

"We are pleased to welcome Judge Takahara to the Law School for this lecture," said Wayne Law Dean and Professor Robert M. Ackerman. "I look forward to hearing his views regarding the impending re-introduction of a jury system into Japanese courts."

Beginning in May, Japan plans on incorporating a jury system into its criminal courts by allowing six citizens to hear trials alongside three judges. This change to the country's court system comes more than 60 years after Japan's government abolished an American-style jury system that was in place in Japan for 15 years. Touted as potentially having a revolutionizing effect on the rest of Asia, the introduction of a jury system in Japan has been met with both praise and uncertainty by the country's lawyers and citizens.

In 2007, Wayne Law, the Third Circuit Court of Michigan, and the Supreme Court of Japan announced that a judge from the Japanese judicial system would visit Michigan to research and study the American judicial system each year thereafter, with a special emphasis on Michigan trial courts.

As this year's representative, Judge Takahara has been studying the American courts while assigned to the Wayne County's 3rd Circuit Court. The 29-year-old judge has also explored the jury system with visits to Oakland County's 6th Circuit Court where he has examined juror questionnaires, studied how the jury pool works and witnessed the voir dire process in action.

Judge Takahara was appointed to the Tokyo District Court as a judge in October 2004. He received his training as a legal apprentice from the Legal Training and Research Institute of the Supreme Court. He also received a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Waseda.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Lunch is provided and parking is available for $3.50 in parking structure #1 across from the Law School on West Palmer Street. For more information regarding this event, please contact the Law School Dean's Office at (313) 577-3933.

About Wayne Law
Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit's re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media and distance learning classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, five live-client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.