Hankyung Business 2017 National Law School Rankings released

Korea University School of Law ranked No.1 among private schools in Korea for the fourth consecutive year.

The rankings are based on a survey circulated among the legal departments and persons in charge of legal affairs in the top 200 companies in Korea, as well as the human resources managers of major law firms.

According to recent law school rankings released by Hankyung Business, a weekly business magazine issued by the Korea Economic Daily, Korea University ranked first among private schools in the nation for the fourth consecutive year, solidifying its top place among law schools in Korea.

Since the first law school was founded in Korea nine years ago, the number of law schools in the country has reached 25. For an objective and fair assessment of law schools, Hankyung Business has been conducting surveys and reporting its findings since 2014. The participants of the surveys are legal departments and persons in charge of legal affairs in the top 200 companies in Korea; many are lawyers who are law school graduates, as well as human resources managers from major law firms.

The evaluation criteria were divided into eight sections: (1) “legal knowledge,” which includes the ability to identify problems, interpret law and make deduction, and legal information; (2) “legal application ability” regarding assessment of ability to collect information, communicate, negotiate, and write legal documents; (3) “training for practical affairs” asking whether training for practice is well-established via internships at courts and law firms; (4) “specialized professionalism” regarding the professionalism of the curriculum or the graduates; (5) “pursuit of diversity,” which seeks work experiences and backgrounds in specific fields other than law; (6) “justice, impartiality, morality education,” which evaluates whether adequate education is being provided to foster attitude of justice, impartiality, and morality; (7) “contribution to community” related to the contribution of the graduates to their respective local communities; and (8) “recommendation for admission” asking which law school participants would recommend to future law students.

Korea University ranked second overall with 245 points, indisputably maintaining first place among private schools for the fourth consecutive year, and further solidifying its status. The reputation of KU Law School ranked the highest in Korea, surpassing Seoul National University in the “recommendation for admission” section which asks the participants to choose a law school that they would like to recommend to future law students.

The curriculum of the KU Law School emphasizes fostering global leaders who are well-equipped with practical abilities. In order to achieve this goal, the KU Law School collaborates with 32 overseas educational institutions in 14 different countries, and provides opportunities and support for internships at foreign law firms and international organizations.

At the end of the evaluation, Hankyung Business reported that the strong sense of fellowship among current students and graduates, which is a special characteristic of the KU Law School, has also contributed to the advancement of the Law School. The mentoring program, which the graduates working in the field have operated since 2015, was also highly evaluated as assisting the current students to enhance their practical abilities by helping them gain hands-on experience.

Soon-Koo Myoung, the Dean of the Korea University School of Law, explained that, "In the College of Law, students study general law. After graduating, they can become jurists, employees at corporations taking on various duties, or scholars. However, the core of the Law School is vocational training.” He went on to state, “It may also be safe to say that it is a vocational school of which the primary focus is cultivating professional jurists, and the foremost task we face now is fostering scholars and educators who will research and teach law as a field of study.”