`Law Schools Could Hamper Korean Legal System
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The government's move to emulate the American law school system in its drive to reform the nation's legal education structure could backfire and trigger various side-effects, a prominent law professor said.
``The American law school system the Korean government seeks to adopt is rooted in free competition. But it's different here. The government still holds a tight grip on the new legal education system, including the number of law schools and their student quota,'' said Prof. Lee Uk-han, dean of the college of law at Sookmyung University in Seoul, in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
``If the government continues with its current policies regarding law schools, in the long run, the number of law departments here will decline drastically, resulting in a shortage of students majoring in law,'' the dean said. ``The law school systems in the U.S. and Japan were initially run under government supervision, but they stopped controlling the system after they learned that such a heavy-handed approach significantly undermined their law school systems.''
A total of 41 universities are seeking to set up law schools for 3,960 students, according to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. However, half of the schools are expected to fail in their applications, as the ministry will give the right to establish the schools to around 25 universities nationwide ― some 13 schools in Seoul and the others elsewhere ― for only a 2,000 student quota.
The ministry will announce a tentative list of 25 universities that will be allowed to establish law schools on Jan. 30. It will give final approval to them around September after examining whether the candidates have implemented their initial proposals, such as the number of faculties, curriculum, facilities and scholarship programs. The new graduate law school will open in March 2009.
Sookmyung Women's University is one of the three women's-only Universities that applied for a law school. The three are Sookmyung Women's University, Ewha Womans University and Sungshin Women's University.
Sookmyung's edge
Sookmyung's unique curriculum, teaching methods and student care system sharpen its competitive edge.
The university's law school focuses its curriculum on legal affairs with regard to children, family, women, minority groups in Korean society, and public governance.
``We see legal experts in welfare-related fields will play a great role in the years to come with demand for public welfare increasing gradually. Ministries handling health and welfare affairs will also emerge as main governmental bodies in the future,'' the professor said.
Noting that most public and civic sectors in welfare still suffer a lawyer manpower shortage, Lee said ``our law school will pave the way for nurturing social-welfare-oriented, underprivileged-friendly and humble lawyers.''
To reach a resolution on a legal dispute, a lawyer has to look into a variety of laws related to the case. For instance, a lawyer dealing with a child case needs to know about overall laws including the civil, criminal laws and the constitution to come up with a comprehensive solution for the case. But it is almost impossible for a professor to teach all subjects in detail. To overcome this limitation, Sookmyung's law school plans to run a ``joint lesson program'' in which more than two professors majoring in different subjects participate in a class, approaching a specific case with diverse legal perspectives.
``We already have a total of 20 exceptional professors with various academic backgrounds. The number will be increased to 26 in the near future, allowing students to have more intensive, easy-to-apply and pragmatic instruction.'' Lee said.
The school also plans to provide a one-to-one mentoring system to all registered students. Under the program, each student gets an opportunity to develop a one-to-one relationships with each mentor professor.
``We have witnessed many students worrying about their uncertain and undecided future. This mentoring program will help ease their stress by mapping out their future with a mentor professor's help,'' the dean said.