[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The Korean Bar Association (President Lee Jong-yeop) has called for reducing the number of bar exam passers, which had increased to the 1,700 range last year, to at least the 1,200 range and for the consolidation of adjacent legal professions such as judicial scriveners and patent attorneys.
Since the introduction of law schools (Law School) and the implementation of the bar exam, the number of registered lawyers in Korea has surpassed 30,000 in just 10 years, reaching a saturation point. Although law schools were introduced on the premise of consolidating similar professions, instead of consolidation, these adjacent professions have been expanding, making it impossible to maintain the current number of passers.
According to the legal community on the 14th, the Ministry of Justice originally planned to announce the results of the 10th bar exam on the 23rd, but due to scheduling conflicts with law school events, the announcement is expected as early as the 21st.
The Bar Association recently submitted two opinion letters to the Ministry of Justice requesting that the number of passers for the 10th bar exam be limited to 1,200 or fewer. While it is appropriate to set the number below 1,000, the Bar Association’s position is that even if a sharp reduction is difficult, the number should not exceed 1,200.
On the 9th, the Bar Association submitted a second opinion letter attaching the results of a study on the appropriate number of bar exam passers conducted earlier this year by the Korean Association for Policy Analysis and Evaluation.
The association’s study concluded that ▲ Korea maintains a Japanese-style legal professional system (Japan’s bar exam passers this year number 1,450), ▲ there are no objective indicators suggesting the need to increase the number of lawyers, and ▲ under current conditions, it is impossible to provide adequate practical training for more than 1,200 lawyers. Based on these points, the study recommended that “to maintain the quality of legal services, it is reasonable to reduce the number of bar exam passers annually to between 1,000 and a maximum of 1,200.”
The number of workers in adjacent legal professions such as judicial scriveners, patent attorneys, tax accountants, certified labor consultants, administrative agents, and customs brokers is increasing every year. Recently, these professions have even been demanding litigation representation rights, yet the Ministry of Justice does not consider this at all when deciding the number of bar exam passers, which is also pointed out as a problem.
A Bar Association official stated, “The introduction of law schools began on the premise of consolidating adjacent professions, but instead of consolidation, these professions have been expanding. Along with this, the number of domestic lawyers has more than doubled in 10 years, and the number of workers in adjacent professions is also rapidly increasing.”
He added, “The reality is that the current number of lawyers is already beyond what the market can absorb,” expressing concern that “continuing to increase the number of lawyers like this will lead to market collapse.”
The Bar Association also holds the view that abolishing the current administrative examination system and hiring bar exam passers as public officials could be a solution to the lawyer saturation problem.
When the bar exam was first held in 2012, the number of passers was set at 75% of the law school quota (2,000), resulting in 1,451 passers. However, the number of passers has increased every year since then, reaching 1,691 in 2019 and 1,768 last year.
According to the Judicial Administration Yearbook published by the Court Administration Office, the total number of cases handled by lawyers has been steadily decreasing since 2015, and this year, the average number of cases handled per lawyer per month dropped significantly to 1.1.
Additionally, among the 1,768 who passed last year’s bar exam, nearly half?about 800?were unable to secure a six-month practical training position, forcing the Bar Association to take responsibility. This number far exceeds the 200 trainees the Bar Association can accommodate, making normal practical training impossible, according to the Bar Association.
On the day of the announcement of the passers, the Ministry of Justice will hold a Bar Exam Management Committee meeting to review the number of passers and then recommend it to the Minister of Justice, who will make the final decision on the successful candidates.
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