Five More Years for Current Judicial Examination

It is speculated that law schools will enroll freshmen starting from 2008 and that the current judicial examination will be effective for another five years after producing law school graduates.

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that they presented a revised bill to the Judicial Reform Committee (JRC) concerning “educating and selecting lawyers.”

The JRC’s 20th general meeting on September 20 will compare and analyze the Supreme Court’s “law school unity bill” and people’s from the Korea Bar Association who are not in favor of the law school “revised bill of current system.” It will come to a conclusion on that day or October 4, when the 21st general meeting opens.

A spokesperson from the JRC said, “If no compromise is made, the JRC members will vote to decide whether or not to adopt law schools.”

At present, it is known that out of all 21 members, except for the neutral chairman, 16 are in favor and four oppose the law school adoption plan.

The Supreme Court’s revised bill says that in an early stage, a law school’s entrance quota should be decided on after looking at the number of current, successful judicial examination examinees and argued that 1,200 (success at the Lawyer Qualification Test is considered as 80%) would be the optimal number.

The revised bill also proposes that there should be a full-time professor for every 12-15 students, that there should be more than 20 professors, and that 20 percent of them should have five years or more of work experience in their major. Concerning length of term, they suggested more than six semesters (three years).

Furthermore, the bill suggests that to achieve variety and professionalism in law school, the selection ratio for undergraduates of law major and undergraduates from same school should be limited.

jin0619@donga.com