Licensing rate for bar exam set at 75 percent

By Park Si-soo

The Ministry of Justice Tuesday set a licensing quota of 75 percent for the 2012 bar exam for law schools students, bowing to students’ demands that the rate should be higher than the initially-proposed 50 percent.

With the number of law school graduates estimated at 2,000, a maximum of about 1,500 graduates will be awarded lawyers’ licenses in the inaugural legal examination next year. The ministry said the licensing quota for 2013 would be determined later.

The decision came one day after more than 3,000 law school students signed written pledges to quit their school in a collective protest against the ministry’s move to set the quota at 50 percent.

A spokesman for a committee determining the ratio said the new quota was agreed to after 25 law schools nationwide promised to strictly control the number of their students. The schools said students who fail to reach the appropriate academic achievement level will not be allowed to advance to higher grades.

The law school system was introduced in 2008 ㅡ despite an outcry from lawyers ㅡ to make it possible for “more people to receive better legal services at cheaper prices” by increasing the number of lawyers on the market.