16 out of 27 are from top 10 law firms
Including police, Financial Supervisory Service, Board of Audit and Inspection, and Rockclock
The ‘2024 Career Examination Recruitment,’ which introduced a no-written-test selection process for the first time in history, attracted 529 applicants, drawing significant attention from the legal community, with 27 candidates ultimately passing. Among the appointees, 60% are lawyers from the top 10 law firms. Outstanding talents from various fields such as the Financial Supervisory Service, Board of Audit and Inspection, National Police Agency, and courts were selected, leading to an assessment that the ‘no-written-test career examination’ recruitment method was a success.
According to the list of appointees for the 2024 career examination announced by the Ministry of Justice, among the 27 successful candidates, 20 (74%) are lawyers affiliated with law firms, 2 are from the National Police Agency, 2 from the Financial Supervisory Service, 1 from the Board of Audit and Inspection, and 2 from the courts (judicial research officials). Their backgrounds range from the 47th Judicial Research and Training Institute class to the 5th, and 7th through 11th lawyer examination sessions.
Analysis by the Legal Times’ Legal Professionals Directory confirmed that among the 20 lawyer appointees, as many as 16 belong to the top 10 law firms. These include 1 from Kim & Chang, 5 from Bae, Kim & Lee, 3 from Sejong, 1 from Tae-pyungyang, 1 from Yulchon, 2 from HwaWoo, 2 from Jipyung, and 1 from Daeryook Aju. They are experienced professionals with expertise and practical experience in finance and securities, taxation, fair trade, human resources and labor, corporate litigation, and criminal law specialties. There are 3 female lawyers and 13 male lawyers.
Although there was criticism regarding the concentration of candidates from certain law firms, the general consensus is that lowering the barriers was effective in attracting high-quality talent. One senior prosecutor commented, “Smart and capable legal experts flocked to this career examination recruitment, mainly because there was no written test and the number of recruits was large,” adding, “Given the impressive qualifications and practical skills of the successful candidates, it is expected to somewhat alleviate the chronic manpower shortage in the prosecution service.”
The groundbreaking personnel policy of the ‘no-written-test selection’ was a decision made by Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok. While preparing for the career examination recruitment, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice concluded that the biggest burden for law school graduates who passed the bar exam and were preparing for prosecutor appointments?and one of the reasons for low application rates?was the written test, so they boldly eliminated it. Instead of the written test, they introduced more discriminating evaluations such as job performance and presentation skills assessments and interviews with prosecutor general-level officials to select the most needed talents for the prosecution organization.
After the two-week public announcement period of the appointee list ends without issues, the candidates will be appointed as prosecutors around August. After completing job training at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, they are planned to be concentratedly assigned to district prosecutors’ offices and branch offices in central and southern regions, Suwon, and Incheon, where strengthening investigative capabilities is urgently needed within the year.
Woo Bin, Legal Times Reporter
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
