Saigo no Bengonin (2003)

Saigo no Bengonin 2003 / 最後の弁護人 2003 / The Last Lawyer

Moved by television shows of lawyers she saw as a child, Ishida Ryoko dreamed of nothing more than becoming one herself. Though she studied hard she was never able to realize her dream. Resigned to her fate, Ryoko later went on to work for a bank where she was put in charge of going after defaulted loans, the most detested job of them all at the bank. Told not to come back to the bank until she'd collected from at least one of the many deadbeat borrowers she was assigned to pursue, Ryoko reaches Yudo Kazuaki, a heavily indebted lawyer and the last person on her list. Operating out of a dilapidated home office, lawyer Kazuaki's work ­ when he gets any ­ mostly involves him serving as a court-appointed attorney to defendants unable to afford legal counsel. In other words, Kazuaki makes no money, but that is not why he's a lawyer. Like his newfound partner Ryoko, whom he soon teams up with (remember, he still owes the bank money, so she tags along with him no matter where he goes), they both share an intimate desire to protect the weak and defend the innocent people as their last lawyer.