Lee Uk-han, dean of college of law at Sookmyung Women’s University |
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.
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