A statement has been published by the Korean Bar Association (KBA), which issued a strong call for urgent reform to Korea’s attorney admission process and a significant reduction in the number of new lawyers admitted each year. In its public position released on 10 April 2025, the KBA emphasised the unsustainable oversaturation of the legal profession in Korea and warned that continued inaction would lead to deteriorating legal service quality, public harm, and the erosion of the rule of law.
The KBA noted that since the introduction of the law school system in 2009, which was originally intended to unify and professionalise legal education, the government has failed to fulfil its promise of reducing quasi-legal professions. Instead, the number of such professionals has increased dramatically alongside a consistently high output of newly licensed attorneys. The KBA presented comparative data indicating that Korea now has twice as many attorneys per capita as Japan, nearly three times the number of new admittees annually, and six times the number of quasi-legal professionals.
The Association criticised the current bar admission process, in which the number of successful candidates is effectively predetermined by a Ministry of Justice committee largely composed of individuals without ties to legal practice. It argued that this process disregards objective indicators such as demographic trends, legal market capacity, and the prevalence of alternative legal service providers.
Citing Article 1(1) of the Attorney-at-Law Act, the KBA stressed that attorneys are meant to safeguard fundamental human rights and social justice. However, due to market saturation and economic instability, many lawyers are forced out of the profession, diminishing the public’s access to legal services and undermining confidence in the justice system.
The KBA called for the number of new attorneys to be capped at no more than 1,200 annually, alongside a radical overhaul of the deliberation process. It also urged the Ministry of Justice to increase transparency in setting future bar admission quotas and to allow sufficient time for consultation with practicing lawyers.
Concluding with a quotation from Mencius – “Without a stable livelihood, there can be no stable morality” – the KBA warned that the survival of professional ethics and the integrity of Korea’s legal system depend on restoring balance to the attorney supply.
Korean Bar Association – Call to reduce new attorneys and reform selection process