Korea's prestigious universities abolish law departments in large numbers

In 2018, the Department of Law at Seoul National University disappeared. The department had produced many talented graduates who were considered to be among the best in the country. The university sent an email to students announcing that they would no longer have a separate bachelor's degree course in law and that the organization and name of the law school would be discarded for the last time in 2017.

Seoul National University opened a law school in 2009, and according to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, it was no longer possible to maintain a separate undergraduate program in law. Initially, the Ministry recommended that the organization and name be maintained until 2012, but this was adjusted to 2017 to allow students who had delayed graduation due to military leave to complete their studies. They started to have their additional, professional studies in “Law School.”

The first time the introduction of a law school was discussed as a reform plan for the legal training system was in 1995, during the Kim Young-sam administration. After drifting around, the law school was opened in 2009 with the passage of related laws in July 2007. To nurture excellent legal professionals, the 'Act on the Establishment and Operation of Law Schools' was enacted in 2008, and 41 universities applied for approval to establish law schools by this law, of which 25 universities. The establishment was finally approved. To provide high-quality legal services that meet the diverse expectations and requests of the public, Law School is based on a rich culture, deep understanding of humans and society, and values that pursue freedom, equality, and justice, and provides sound professional ethics and complex and diverse perspectives. It is stipulated that the goal is to train legal professionals with the knowledge and ability to resolve legal disputes professionally and efficiently.

The abolition of the bar exam, which began in 1963 and served as a ‘gateway to success’ for more than half a century, and the introduction of the law school system was a groundbreaking change in which the authority to train lawyers was vested in the private sector, not the state. The goal was to train lawyers through regular education, not through single-shot tests. The overwhelming majority of people who failed the bar exam, who sacrificed their youth for the final battle of the bar exam that does not presuppose education, became a social problem, and university education was devastated as not only law majors but also non-majors flocked to the mirage of success. It has been done. Legal education in universities and students’ exam preparation are completely different from each other. Law school was introduced as an alternative to prevent this phenomenon.

As a result, from 2018, all Department of Law programs at Seoul National University were abolished, and only law schools remained. There would be no more law-related undergraduate classes. However, many students and graduates who received official notices from the school still have regrets. The Department of Law has disappeared from other top universities in Korea as well, and as a result, most students who want to become prosecutors, judges, and lawyers major in business administration, economics, and political diplomacy and then enter law schools.

It is important for students to be aware of the changing university system and entrance exams and to understand that the Department of Law at Seoul National University no longer exists.