"If the Criteria for Judge Appointment Experience Increase, Securing Expertise Becomes Difficult"

Judicial Policy Research Institute, 'Judgwan Imyongje Improvement Measures' Discussion Forum

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Concerns have been raised that increasing the minimum legal experience required to apply for a judge position could make it difficult to secure the expertise needed for trials.

On the 25th, Yoon Chanyoung, Senior Research Fellow at the Judicial Policy Research Institute, stated at a forum on "Improvement Measures for Judicial Appointment System" hosted by the Judicial Policy Research Institute and the Association of Law Schools, "Appointing judges solely from lawyers who have long practiced outside the courts has limitations in securing trial expertise." The judiciary has been fully implementing a unified legal profession system since 2013, requiring a minimum legal experience to be appointed as a judge. The minimum legal experience is currently 5 years but will increase to 7 years from 2022 and to 10 years from 2026.

Researcher Yoon pointed out, "As legal careers lengthen, legal professionals must practice as lawyers for a long time, but even if they acquire expertise, the courts lack incentives to encourage their applications for judicial appointments." He added, "Among those with more than 10 years of legal experience, those who have not secured positions in their fields are more likely to apply for judicial appointments," and suggested, "Judges should be selected by job type to allow long-term service in specialized fields."

Kim Shinyu, Chief Judge of the Yeongwol Branch of Chuncheon District Court, said, "If the current court personnel pattern continues, longer experience requirements will inevitably increase the period of local service, negatively affecting applications for judicial appointments," and added, "At this point, the 5-year standard has the least negative impact on court personnel and trials." Professor Kim Jongcheol of Yonsei University Law School expressed the opinion that the issue of legal experience requirements should be carefully considered along with the long-term direction of judicial reform.

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