▲ A picture depicting law school

South Gyeongsang Province (a.k.a. Gyeongnam) is once again vying for the establishment of a law school, 16 years after its initial attempt. With a population exceeding 3 million, Gyeongnam is the only province in South Korea without a law school. The lack of a law school has led to a significant outflow of potential law students to other regions and limited access to legal services for residents. To address these issues, the province is actively pursuing the establishment of a law school.

A bill recently proposed by Congressman Park Dae-chul stipulates that each metropolitan city and province should have at least one law school. Based on this bill, Gyeongnam plans to officially request the government to establish a new law school and allocate student quotas. The province is expected to emphasize the necessity of establishing a law school to train legal professionals and enhance access to legal services in the region.

Currently, law schools in Korea have maintained a quota of 2,000 students across 25 universities for the past 15 years, without any new additions. In the initial implementation of the law school system in 2009, Gyeongsang National University and Youngsan University applied for the establishment of a law school but were ultimately unsuccessful. There is a mix of anticipation and concern within the community regarding whether Gyeongnam will finally succeed in establishing a law school this time.

Despite having a high demand for specialized legal services due to its concentration of industries such as aerospace, shipbuilding, defense, and nuclear energy, the number of lawyers in Gyeongnam falls short of the national average. As of 2021, the Changwon District Court handled 4.3% of all cases nationwide, ranking fifth among non-metropolitan areas. However, there are only about 400 lawyers in the province, accounting for a mere 1.5% of the total number of lawyers in Korea. With only 1.21 lawyers per 10,000 people, significantly lower than the national average of 5.17, the accessibility of legal services for residents remains limited.

Adding to the challenge, the legal community is generally unsupportive of establishing a new law school. There is mounting pressure to reduce the number of lawyers passing the bar exam, leading to calls for decreasing law school quotas. Existing law schools oppose quota reductions, making the establishment of new ones even more difficult.

In response to this situation, Gyeongnam has devised a strategy to request the government to allocate the vacancies occurring annually in existing law schools to provincial areas, while maintaining the current overall quota. Each year, there are approximately 150 to 200 vacancies out of the 2,000 law school quotas nationwide. The province argues that these vacancies should be allocated to law schools in provincial areas to address the shortage of legal professionals.

Currently, only national universities in Gyeongnam have the capacity to operate a law school due to the financial deficit involved. Operating a law school is known to incur an annual deficit of approximately 2 billion won. While this poses a considerable financial burden, most national universities are willing to operate law schools despite the deficit, considering the potential benefits to the university's prestige. Gyeongsang National University, having fulfilled the facility requirements for establishing a law school 16 years ago, is actively expressing its willingness to host a law school.

On the other hand, Changwon National University (CWNU) remains passive. The university has not expressed a clear stance on the matter currently. Some speculate that CWNU is currently preoccupied with other issues, such as obtaining "Glocal University" designation and merging with provincial universities, making it difficult to consider establishing a law school at this time.

Gyeongnam anticipates various positive effects from establishing a law school, including fostering local talent, revitalizing the local economy, and improving the quality of legal services. It would create a virtuous cycle where local talent studies locally and contributes to the community, enhancing the region's educational and cultural standards, while contributing to economic revitalization.

Despite the heightened expectations fueled by the proposed bill and the active efforts of local lawmakers and the provincial government, the establishment of a law school in Gyeongnam could be thwarted once again if CWNU maintains its passive stance. It remains to be seen whether CWNU will respond to the community's demands and actively pursue establishing a law school or forgo this opportunity due to practical difficulties.

By Jung-hyun, editor-in-chief  pjhgongju0903@naver.com

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