Fostering Korea’s first law practice startups

KU Law school establishes and operates a platform for law practice startups

near the Seocho judicial town

Establishing a new legal industrial ecosystem for the first time in Korean history

Nurturing future-oriented legal professionals

Being the first of its kind in Korea, Korea University plans to establish an innovative ecosystem for legal industries in order to fulfill the university’s social responsibility.

With its aim to foster legal professionals and to propose an active educational model for the law school system, the Korea University Law School plans to establish and operate a startup platform that is designed to specialize in nurturing legal professionals near the Seocho Judicial Town. Startups that nurture legal professionals with expertise are hardly found overseas. This is the first time for a Korean university to set up such platform.

Korea University is currently at the stage of establishing the Center for Law and Creativity (hereafter, CLC) as an affiliated institution of the KU Law School, which supports startups, offers practical training programs to legal professionals, and promotes interchange among various institutions at home and abroad.

Sang-Dae Han (’77 Law), visiting professor at the KU Law School and former Public Prosecutor General, and Jewan Kim, professor of KU Law School, will serve their two-year terms, respectively, as the first Director and the Vice Director for the CLC. A planning/operating committee and a convergence advisory committee composed of experts from various fields within the CLC have been established to provide practical advice on law practice startups. Moreover, educational research institutions, corporations, law firms and national institutions from home and abroad will also offer professional support as well as practical training programs.

Furthermore, the Korea-Jungwoo Law Incubating Platform (hereafter, KJLIP) will be established within the CLC to provide full-fledged support to professional law practice entrepreneurs.

A team of three people will function with their own responsibility and independent status within the KJLIP. The KU CLC will select 6 teams and provide them with free space and connect them with various collaborating institutions and the convergence advisory committee. Teams are required to have at least one member who is a certified lawyer who possesses a graduate degree from Korea University. The selected teams will receive two-year support for startup incubation.

※ The Origin of 精于 (Jungwoo)

- “精于 (Jungwoo)” originates from the Disquisition on the Progress of Learning (Jin Hak Hae 進學解) by Han Yu, a writer of the Tang dynasty. “Diligence allows oneself to devote oneself to study, laziness results in devastation, one’s conduct is manifested based upon contemplation, and the act of neglect leads to one’s downfall” 〔業精于勤, 荒于嬉, 行成于思, 毁于隨].

- “精于 (Jungwoo)” literally means to devote oneself diligently to achieve humanity.

- “精于 (Jungwoo)” is homophonous with the Chinese characters “淨友” and “廷友”. “淨友” literally means an upright friend. It originally refers to plants such as bamboos and pine trees, which stand for friends who are not swayed by injustice. “廷友” means friends of the court.

Yoo-jung Jung, Chairman of uJung Industries, and Seungwoo Jung (’99 Law), Chief Director of uJung Foundation, offered free space (200 pyeong) in a building located in Bangbae-dong, Seoul to support future-oriented law practice intellectuals in the KJLIP. This will enable the six selected teams to launch their startups without being constrained by physical space.

Myoung Soon-Koo, Dean of KU School of Law, said, “The KU Law School has been striving to go beyond the three-year law school education and fulfill its continuous and active social responsibility from a creative perspective. We expect to see specialized legal professionals equipped with expertise make headway in various fields and play their roles as creative intellectuals who can open up new possibilities and thus establish a new paradigm for Korean law schools.”

Being the first of its kind, the KU CLC and the KJLIP, which will propose an active educational model within the Korean law school system, plan to hold an opening ceremony on September 13.