By Lee Eunkyung (eunklee94@korea.ac.kr)

Korea University (KU) has had a long tradition over law majors, at least over 100 years. But changing its system into Law School has not been long. It was only the third time for graduation event to be held within the system in 2014. Yet, this year’s graduates have a profound meaning in that this is the first time that KU graduates are in a winning situation over Yonsei University (YU) Law School graduates.

Specifically, the Korea Economic Daily has researched current situation of law firm employment, targeting university graduates. The analysis counted the number of applicants who have been accepted to 10 representative major law firms in South Korea. So far, Seoul National University (SNU) has always remained the first in number. At first, YU followed right behind and then KU. But right now, there are four more graduates who entered the prestigious law firms compared to YU’s. This has also allowed KU’s accumulated number to outnumber YU’sㅡrespectively 58 and 56.

Korea Corporate Legal Affairs Association took a survey in 2011, asking 327 students of law schools what their future course will be after being admitted to the bar. The number one path was to get into prestigious law firms with about 20 percent of the respondents answering so. Indeed, many graduates prefer being a lawyer than a prosecutor or a judge. Indeed, KU Law School has succeeded in sending many graduates to one of the most preferred work place. Notably, the achievement also means that KU law school is receiving more stable and better recognition within law market.