Judges to be hired among experienced legal professionals

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- Only legal professionals with a certain amount of experience in the field will be eligible to apply to become a judge from 2013 under a judicial reform bill expected to pass through parliament soon, officials said Tuesday.
Currently, those who pass the bar exam can apply for judgeship after completing a mandatory two-year course at the Judicial Training Research Institute before joining the bench. Under the system, top trainees are appointed as judges, and many of them retire in their 40s and 50s to practice law.
But the hiring system has come under criticism that judges are sometimes too young and inexperienced to handle complicated cases.
The bill calling for scrapping the old system is set to be put to a vote in a plenary session of the special parliamentary committee on judicial reform slated for Wednesday.
Unlike other contentious bills, the proposal is expected to be approved with strong consent by the parliament as there is a need for experienced judges in court proceedings, according to committee members.
If the bill is approved, the system will be first implemented in 2013 and be phased in by 2020 to limit judge applicants to those who have at least 10 years of experience in the field.
"Their experiences will be counted from the point when they go through training sessions or practice law after completing law school," a court official said. "Among those subject to (the new system) are prosecutors, lawyers, military judicial officers and those with work experiences in government offices and companies' legal departments."
South Korea's legal system is undergoing significant changes under a 2007 bill to introduce U.S.-style professional law schools to cultivate attorneys with the ability to adapt to growing needs for specialization and globalization. The nation's law schools will produce the first-ever graduates early next year.


ejkim@yna.co.kr