21세기 법학교육의 방향모색 ; 기조강연 : 21세기 한국법학의 지향 목표

Abstract

As Alvin & Heidi Toflers have sarcastically put it in their recent book, Revolutionary Wealth, universities are social institutions which are least perceptive to the changes of the world. Even within universities, law departments are known as the most staunch guards of status quo. Korea is not an exception. There has been wide-spread criticism toward Korean legal education for the last few decades. But little change has been made for the period. A peculiar system of Korean National Judicial Exam bearing little linkage with the university education, has substantially impaired the prestige and practical utility of the law schools. Since 2003, a national agenda of implementing graduate professional law school has invited the entire legal society into chaotic battles of various interest groups. Against such backgrounds, this paper aims to propose the goals of legal education beyond the comtemporary settings. The author opines his logics based on his own belief in law and legal studies: law as service, and legal studies as comprehensive science. To enhance the quality of the legal service, supply mechanism of the service has to be renovated. Services should be diversified so that no area of life and work of the society be left out. Comprehensive science demands advance studies in various areas prior to legal education. Graduate professional law school might help achieve these goals, only provided that the two critical factors, diversity and global awareness, are met.