KU law study, preparing to take a new leap

Aiming to cultivate future generations to be the lawyers of tomorrow

KU School of Law launches the Future Planning Committee

In order to proactively respond to the abolishment of the College of Law, the establishment of the Law School system, judicial system reform, and changes in social and industrial paradigms, the KU School of Law recommends innovation in institutions and practices such as education/study, external cooperation, and international capacity and suggests plans for improvement.

On November 17 (6 p.m.) at Veritas Hall in the CJ Law Building, the KU School of Law held an event titled “A Night with KU Law” and announced a slogan containing the ultimate goal of KU law study, “Go Beyond Greatness.” “Go Beyond Greatness” contains the desire to seek true value in law studies, and the G2 Project was created as a program to fulfill this objective.

The KU School of Law established the KU Law Future Planning Committee (hereafter, the Future Planning Committee), which will serve as the center of development planning. This committee provides consultation to the dean of the School of Law regarding school policy implementation and enforcement. The Future Planning Committee (Committee Chair: Professor Jewan Kim, School of Law) is composed of internal members (including professors from other departments) and external members (experts in law, economics, and politics) and a prominent alumnus in the School of Law serves as an advisor.

The Future Planning Committee plans to cultivate future generations of law students in Korea to become excellent lawyers who will serve in tomorrow’s society. In order to achieve these goals, the School of Law will establish a training system where Ph.D. graduates from law schools develop the next generation and greatly expand the research environment for prospective students.

The Future Planning Committee has also identified several smaller tasks to innovate various important areas.

The first task is to revamp the curriculum. The School of Law plans to provide a more professional and specialized program. The new curriculum will be a needs-based, goal-driven, and global-convergence-oriented curriculum to cultivate industrial and regional professionals. There will also be innovation through the implementation of educational methods such as flipped classrooms and MOOCs.

The second task is the creation of a strong foundation for talented undergraduate students interested in law. The Committee will equip students from diverse fields with basic legal knowledge by improving the law-related general education courses offered to undergraduate students. In order to help KU undergraduate students wishing to enroll in law schools nationwide, a permanent program called “Way to Law School” will be operated.

The third task is diversifying the law school faculty. The Committee plans to invite top international professors as well as faculty members with relevant field experience and establish networks to secure research contracts by employing dedicated coordinators to bring about positive changes in the School of Law. In addition, seminars for the development of themes for convergence-related research tasks will be held, and plans to create an academic ecosystem for future generations will be set in motion.

The fourth task is the enhancement of practical functions. The School of Law will provide training and retraining programs for lawyers and other professionals. In particular, a special training program “Evolving Society, Evolving Law” (ESEL) will be available not only to those in law but also engineering and business professionals in the fields of finance, tax, fair trade, and IT. In addition, the KU Law Incubating Hub Center will be established to provide practical training for new lawyers from the KU School of Law and specialist training for more experienced lawyers who have graduated from KU as undergraduates. This center will develop intensive specialist training to further their careers.

The fifth task is internationalization. The Committee will operate an advanced training program called “Foreign Legal Consultants” (FLCs) to enhance the understanding of Korean law and legal culture. Prominent internal and external professionals will be invited as lecturers to attract lawyers from abroad.

Innovation does not necessarily mean abandoning history. The School of Law will strive to document and preserve historical materials about KU’s law study with its 112-year history to consolidate data that contributed to the foundation of the current School of Law (Completion of KU Law Museum). In addition, a digital archive containing the history of KU law study (e.g., lecture videos of professors emeritus and major materials/documents) will also be built.

Dean Soon-Koo Myoung at the KU School of Law said, “In February 2018, with the abolishment of colleges of law nationwide, the only way to become lawyers will be to enroll in law schools. Since this law school system is a national choice, we have to cooperate in improving and supplementing our system rather than standing against it.” He continued, “The core of law schools is vocational education. Thus, the current biggest task is to cultivate scholars and educators who will study and teach law.” He emphasized that the autonomy of law schools should be strengthened and law schools should be able to not only produce legal practitioners but also foster the academic skills of future generations.