Demographics of Bar Exam Changing

“The biggest change in the judicial exam has been the increase in the number of successful women candidates and the English classes that will begin starting this year. Other than that, I’m not sure what has actually changed,” said Lee Sang-won, a professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute (JRTI).

However, a subtle change, which Lee failed to notice, was emerging behind the scenes. There have been considerable changes in the schools and hometowns of those who pass the judicial examination.

Dong-A Ilbo has obtained the personal information of 4,820 successful bar examination takers who entered the JRTI over the last five years beginning in 2002.

The information shows an increasing number of successful candidates come from Seoul, while the number of those from local regions is decreasing. In addition, among successful candidates, the number of those who graduated from special high schools, such as foreign language high schools and science high schools, has skyrocketed. While in terms of universities, the ratio of successful candidates from Seoul National University (SNU) is diminishing.

The analysis indicated that the number of people admitted to the JRTI from Seoul rose by 21 percent from 238 in 2002 to 288 in 2006. The ratio of people from Seoul among new JRTI members also grew from 24.4 percent in 2002 to 29.5 percent in 2006.

On the other hand, the number of successful bar examination candidates from nine provinces excluding Seoul, and six other metropolitan cities, who entered the JRTI decreased from 532 in 2002 to 413 this year. The ratio has also gone down from 54.5 percent to 42.3 percent.

Looking at the result by provinces, the number of successful bar examination candidates from Gyeongsang, Jeolla, Chungcheong, Gangwon and Jeju provinces, excluding Gyeonggi Province, dropped. The number from South Gyeongsang Province and South Jeolla Province decreased from 102 to 67, and 96 to 63, respectively.

In terms of high schools, the number of successful bar exam candidates who graduated from high schools in Seoul went up from 312 in 2002 to 381 in 2006.

In addition, there was a big jump in the number of candidates who graduated from special high schools.

In 2002, graduates from special high schools accounted for 3.7 percent of all who entered the JRTI, but they made up 12.9 percent in 2006.

In another category worth watching, three foreign language high schools entered the list of the top 10 judicial apprentice-producing high schools over the last five years.

The number of SNU graduates joining the JRTI dropped from 381 in 2002 to 333 this year. The number of women who joined the JRTI nearly doubled from 17.3 percent to 31.8 percent during the same period.

Hyun-Jin Park witness@donga.com