Last week must have been a torturous one for 1,698 students graduating from the new law schools in February. These students are the first batch of graduates from the 25 law schools nationwide, and they took the first bar exam over a five-day period last week. The students and their law schools spent all of 2011 preparing for the exam. As the passing rate is set at 75 percent of the total graduates, most of them will get the bar license they have pursued for the past three years at law school.
A more difficult challenge, however, will come when they actually graduate. The job market for the new graduates is not so bright: It is expected that only 500 or so positions are ready to welcome them. Put differently, almost 1,000 graduates will not know where they are heading when they graduate. With tens of millions of won in debt and their fate up in the air, many will wonder whether the law school diploma is worth their investment after all.
Critics of the new law school system have voiced their concerns, with some even asking the fundamental question of whether the 2007 introduction of the new system was the right choice for Korea. Alas, even if there was a consensus, arguendo, that the former system was a better one, we have come too far to turn back now. Virtually everything about legal education has been changed during the past four years. In these circumstances, it would be more realistic to explore ways to solve or alleviate identified problems including the employment issue.
Perhaps the first thing to note is that these graduates are the first students who have been trained under the new system. As we know, the first time is always riddled with confusion and difficulty, and the term “trial and error” would best describe the new law school environment for the past four years. Still, there is a long “to-do” list for the schools, for the government, and for corporations. Hopefully, boxes will be checked off one by one as we go along. Considering how hastily the new system was adopted, expecting a completely seamless transition would be asking too much.
The job market situation should be viewed from this perspective. In Korea, there are still many places and positions that require people with legal expertise. Many ordinary Koreans crave access to affordable legal services. As shown in recent debates on free trade agreements, there are plenty of areas where a stable supply of legal expertise is necessary. Nonetheless, for this potential demand to substantiate itself, it needs time for adjustment in all relevant sectors. By way of example, governmental agencies and corporations need to establish their own internal guidelines and procedures to recruit, train and utilize these young lawyers for any realistic assessment of employment opportunities, but this important process has yet to take place: Wait-and-see has largely been the attitude for many potential employers.
So, one way or another, graduates will find places over time. The time lag between graduation and recruitment, however, could be burdensome to the early batches of graduates until the social adjustment is made, and unfortunately the first students stand to take the blunt impact. Once a new framework is put in place, this time lag or mismatch can be resolved. Viewed from this perspective, it would be somewhat premature to be too much concerned about the bleak job market situation looking at the snap shot situation of February 2012. Of course, what is certain is that these entry level lawyers will be bound to encounter fierce competition, and the job market out there is not as opportune as it might have been in the past.
The decision to introduce a new law school system back in 2007 was an ambitious attempt to reform legal education in a way that reflects the changing reality of Korea. Yet, the ultimate success of this attempt does not stop with the establishment of the new schools and administration of bar exams. The ultimate success of the attempt requires the government, together with the schools, to set up a comprehensive, long-term plan to integrate the new system into existing entities and sectors of the Korean society.
By Lee Jae-min
Lee Jae-min is a professor of law at the School of Law, Hanyang University, in Seoul. Formerly he practiced law as an associate attorney with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. ― Ed.
