Controversy escalates over plan to pick law school graduates as prosecutors

A group of lawyers gathered in front of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul on Monday, denouncing a plan to recruit prosecutors from law school graduates based on school headmasters’ recommendations and interviews only.

“Selecting prosecutors, one of the most prestigious occupations in the nation, without objective criteria is unacceptable. People with personal connections such as good family backgrounds will be recommended,” Seoul Bar Association head Na Seung-chul said.

The protesters, mostly young, threatened to file a petition with the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly while embarking on a nationwide campaign against the plan.

The lawyers are the latest opponents to the guideline, which exempts law school graduates recommended as candidates for prosecutors from written tests including the state bar examination. All former and incumbent members of the legal profession have passed the bar exam.

On March 2, about 500 of the latest 974 bar exam passers refused to be admitted to the Judicial Research and Training Institute providing them with two-year mandatory training courses. At the entrance ceremony, a total of 1,825 freshmen and sophomores spoke out against the policy.

“Some law schools don’t teach the criminal code, fraud or even murder. How can their students become prosecutors?” a protester said. “It is disrespectful toward people who toil to pass the bar exam.”

The ceremony ended with the institute hastily wrapping up the event and vowing punishments for those who led the “rebels.”

However, lawyers’ associations and lawmakers joined the defiance.

Rep. Lee Seok-hyun of the main opposition Democratic Party said, “The government’s announcement is a discrimination against people who have passed the bar examination. It is also a violation of law subjecting all prosecutors and judges to hold the license beforehand because for those recommended, the license is not mandatory.”

Observers take the incident as a turf war between the conventional powerhouse bar examination passers and law school graduate rookies.

The number of new lawyers, including law school graduates, will reach 1,500 next year, a jump of about 50 percent from the previous year’s 1,000. The number of law school graduates expected to be appointed as prosecutors is 50, two each from 25 schools nationwide, more than half of 90 newly appointed last year. The market will soon be saturated and the fear of fierce competition drove them to streets, insiders said.

However, professor Shin Hyun-yoon, head of the Yonsei University Law School, said that the new system would bring a breath of fresh air into the prosecution organization.

“The graduates with a variety of career and academic backgrounds will diversify and vitalize the prosecution,” he added.

He said that the recommendation procedure will be transparent. “The deans will make choices based on academic credits,” he said.

The Justice Ministry also showed no sign of backing down. “The initial goal of law schools is to open up the legal circles to more people. The system is already executed in the U.S. and proved successful. There will be some setbacks in the beginning, but we will pursue it to the end,” a ministry official said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)