“법률교육”의 국제경쟁력 확보

Abstract

The paper attempts a critical assessment of the current legal education system of Korea and offers broad outlines for possible reform. The national bar examination of Korea is administered as a public service examination open to anyone without any requirement for adequate legal education. This means that law faculties have no officially recognised role to play in the training and selection of lawyers in Korea. All that matters is passing the exam. Since everything turns on this high stake national examination (where success rate is less than 3%), law professors, legal professional bodies such as regional or national bar associations and the judiciary have no say in how the country’s lawyers should be educated and selected. The score reigns supreme. The paper points out the negative aspects of the current system. It is proposed that instead of relying on a high stake examination where one-time test result can make or break one’s career, there should be a system where adequate education and continual assessment will gradually select candidates at several points of education and training process. Moreover, the legal professional bodies must be allowed to participate in shaping the country’s legal education. Legal professional education must be understood as a joint effort undertaken by law professors and the legal profession. A comprehensive reform of the national bar examination is necessary. Law faculties must be given an appropriate role to play in the assessment and selection of future lawyers. A recruitment system which relies solely on the state-run, uniform written test makes it increasingly hard to distinguish between law faculties and bar/bri courses where candidates simply learn how to obtain high scores in a written test. It is also proposed that systematic training must be given before a lawyer is allowed to practice unsupervised. These reforms are all the more urgently needed as the Korean legal market is facing the prospect of opening up under the DDA. Already, increasing number of Koreans shun away from Korean legal education and go abroad to obtain legal education and professional qualification. They then return to Korean legal market and work as foreign legal consultants. This must be taken in all seriousness as it indicates that the Korean system fails to satisfy the needs of the market and the needs of those aspiring to become lawyers.