The legal- and law-related-services market is undergoing significant transformation: it is being expanded and becoming highly competitive, affected by the cultural and economic diversification of the current world society. In Japan, another aspect must be considered in order to clearly understand this transformation. In addition to fully qualified legal professionals, or bengoshi, there are many different certified law-related practitioners such as shihō shoshi (judicial scriveners), gyōsei shoshi (administrative scriveners), zeirishi (certified public tax attorneys), benrishi (patent attorneys), sharōshi (labour and social-security attorneys), and others who are also important actors in the legal- and law-related-services market. These certified law-related practitioners take on important roles not only in services related to civil and administrative law, but also in corporate legal matters in the specialized fields of the business activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan. Traditionally, bengoshi and other certified law-related practitioners have shared the legal-services market symbiotically, without competition. However, the situation has gradually changed since around the 1990s. In this paper, the factors of the transformation of the Japanese legal- and law-related-services market are discussed based on empirical data, and the direction of the transformation in this market is indicated.

中文翻译：

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日本法律和法律相关从业者的转型市场

法律和法律相关服务市场正在经历重大转变：受到当前世界社会文化和经济多样化的影响，它正在扩大并变得竞争激烈。在日本，为了清楚地理解这种转变，必须考虑另一个方面。除了完全合格的法律专业人士，或奔石，有许多不同的认证法律相关从业者，例如四宝小子（司法代书人），行生食品（行政书记员），励志（经过认证的公共税务律师），弁理士（专利代理人），叉烧（劳动和社会保障律师），以及其他在法律和法律相关服务市场上也是重要参与者的人。这些经过认证的法律相关从业人员不仅在与民法和行政法相关的服务中发挥重要作用，而且在日本中小企业（SME）业务活动的专业领域的公司法律事务中也发挥着重要作用。传统上，奔石和其他获得认证的法律相关从业者共生共享法律服务市场，没有竞争。然而，自 1990 年代左右以来，情况逐渐发生了变化。本文基于实证数据探讨了日本法律和法律相关服务市场转型的因素，并指出了该市场的转型方向。