Taiwan has produced far more lawyers than the market can absorb, and the strain is now showing — bad for young lawyers, and bad for clients who end up with poorly trained counsel.

• A loosened bar exam has pushed lawyer numbers up sharply over the past decade.
• Many new lawyers cannot find steady work, and price-cutting and aggressive touting for cases have followed.
• Training has not kept pace with the numbers, so inexperienced lawyers are handling cases they are not ready for.
• Client complaints and discipline cases are rising, which drags down trust in the whole profession.
• Calls are growing to fix how lawyers are examined and trained rather than just how many are let in.

Outlook: Pressure on the justice ministry and the bar association to overhaul the exam and training system will keep building, but real reform is likely to move slowly.