The 2016 National Law School Rankings released

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

The rankings are based on a survey circulated among the top 50 law firms and legal departments in the top 200 companies in Korea. 

Hankyung Business, a weekly business magazine issued by the Korea Economic Daily, recently released the rankings of law schools in Korea.

Korea University took first place among private schools in the nation for the third consecutive year, reaffirming its high status among law schools in Korea. 

Since the first law school was founded in Korea eight years ago, the number of law schools has reached to 25. For an objective and fair assessment on law schools, Hankyung Business started to conduct a survey three years ago, which was circulated among recruiters in the top 50 law firms and legal departments and legal personnel in the top 200 companies. 

The KU School of Law has successfully maintained its top position among private schools (ranked No. 2 overall) for three consecutive years. Compared to last year, the gap between the KU School of Law and the Seoul National University School of Law (ranked No.1 overall) has narrowed from 38 points last year to 15 points this year. 

The magazine reported that Korea University successfully maintained its top position by ranking first, among private universities for the third year in a row. 

What is notable is that the university ranked first in terms of two performance indicators; Expertise in Fields of Law and Justice, Impartiality, and Morality. The Expertise in Fields of Law indicator shows whether courses at law schools are properly designed in order to provide expertise in areas of law or whether law school graduates have expertise in the fields of law they major in. The Justice, Impartiality and Morality indicator looks into whether law school students are well aware of legal principles such as justice, impartiality, and morality. 

The curriculum of the KU Law School focuses on developing practical abilities as jurists and complementing them by expertise. In the first year, students are required to take basic subjects in which they acquire basic and practical knowledge as future jurists. In addition to the regular classes, the law school administers a tutoring program designed to improve the academic achievement of each student. As part of its student support program, the school encourages current students to have group-study sessions with their seniors, which are expected to help build a fellowship between them. 

In the second and third years, students can develop their expertise by taking elective and professional courses and joining training courses. All the courses provided by the KU School of Law are taught by 56 professors who are equipped with expertise in various fields of law.  

The magazine reported that, at the Korea University School of Law, full-time professors, whose expertise was acquired through hands-on experiences, teach all basic and professional subjects. There is also a group of adjunct professors who are currently working as judges, prosecutors, or lawyers. Training courses offer practical experiences of which the levels are as high as those offered by the Judicial Research and Training Institute. The article highlighted the fact that the full-time professors include professors from other countries such as the United States, Britain, and Germany, and they give lectures on the laws of their countries in their mother tongues. 

As part of the school’s effort to provide a variety of opportunities to students, it has opened a regular class, named Via Juris, on top of the traditional courses. The class, consisting of special lectures only, is where enrolled students have chances to meet prominent figures as guest speakers. It helps students cultivate their qualifications as jurists and raise their awareness about a constantly changing society. Via Juris, a Latin phrase meaning “for justice” in English, refers to a road to law or road of law.

In response to the article, the law school said that its strengths originated from students whose love for the school was almost unbreakable. Currently, over 20 percent of jurists in Korea are graduates of the KU School of Law. The school stated that it fully utilized its strong points in order to design the curriculum and instruct students. 

At present, the KU School of Law has a total of 370 students; 355 in the master’s course and 15 in the doctoral program. The magazine also emphasized that the ratio of successful applicants among first-time test takers from the KU School of Law is very high at 82.1%. The bar exam passage rate of applicants who take tests more than once is 78.6%, much higher than the national average of 46.6%.