Over the past two decades, China, Japan, Korea, and other parts of East Asia have been engaged in unprecedented efforts to recast and rapidly expand the legal profession - with profound implications not only for law, but also for politics, international relations, and society itself. Raising the Bar is the first book-length study in English of this phenomenon. It examines a broad range of topics, including changes underway in the profession's size and composition, its relationship to state authority, the outlet it may be providing for historically disadvantaged sectors of society, and its impact on economic and political development, while also exploring the implications of these findings for broader theoretical work about both the legal profession and globalisation. Contributors include William Alford, Yves Dezalay, Bryant Garth, Ryo Hamano, Jae-Won Kim, Toshiro Kitagawa, Daniel Lev, Benjamin Liebman, Setsuo Miyazawa, Luke Nottage, Sang-Hyun Song, and Jane Kaufman Winn.