Song, Sang-Hyun

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Korean Students In U.S. Law Schools and Foreign Students at Seoul National University Law School

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Penn State International Law ReviewVolume 18Number 3 Dickinson Journal of International Law Article 75-1-2000Korean Students In U.S. Law Schools and ForeignStudents at Seoul National University Law SchoolSang-Hyun SongFollow this and additional works at: http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/psilrPart of the Legal Education CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Penn State Law eLibrary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Penn State International LawReview by an authorized administrator of Penn State Law eLibrary. For more information, please contact ram6023@psu.edu.Recommended CitationSong, Sang-Hyun (2000) "Korean Students In U.S. Law Schools and Foreign Students at Seoul National University Law School," PennState International Law Review: Vol. 18: No. 3, Article 7.Available at: http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/psilr/vol18/iss3/7Korean Students In U.S. Law Schoolsand Foreign Students at Seoul NationalUniversity Law SchoolProfessor Sang-Hyun Song*In recent years, there has been a strong tendency for Koreanlaw students and professionals to study in the United States,despite staggering tuition cost. Some scholars still choose topursue studies in Germany, but they are primarily academics whoare interested in teaching about continental law or civil legalsystems. Korea is a civil law country, and there will continue to bea demand for legal scholars with expertise in civil legal systems,but the pervasive influence of American law has made studying inthe States a more attractive and productive option for most lawstudents and legal professionals. The American influence oncorporation law, international trade and investment law,bankruptcy, maritime and insurance law, intellectual property law,banking and securities regulation, and antitrust and competitionlaws has been profound in Korea. Many statutes in these areashave been modeled on the corresponding statutes in the UnitedStates. This influence on domestic Korean law, combined with thestrong U.S. influence on international trade laws, has been both aproduct of, and an impetus for, the increase in Korean lawstudents studying in the United States.The Korean government, as well as the private sector,recognizing the importance of American legal concepts in theformation and administration of Korean and international law andlegal institutions, sponsor one or two-year expense-paidsabbaticals for study abroad for judges, prosecutors, governmentbureaucrats, and corporate employees. Competition to study atprestigious American law schools is severe. Many large law firmsalso offer their associates the opportunity to study for one or twoyears in the U.S., followed by the practical training at an* Professor of Law, Seoul National University.468 DICKINSON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 18:3American law firm. In both cases, the students usually acquire anLL.M. degree from an American law school, and some pass one ofthe state bar exams, adding the prestige of an American lawdegree and membership in an American state bar to an alreadyrewarding educational and professional experience. Young lawgraduates aspiring to be law professors also tend to choose theStates. The willingness on the part of the government, law firms,corporations, and individuals to spend such large amounts ofmoney on a U.S. legal education, especially at one of theprestigious law schools, indicates just how important a strongknowledge of American law is considered to be in Korea today. Itis not exaggerating to say, therefore, that most of the young,ambitious, career-conscious, white collar workers in Korea dowant to carry out at least graduate legal studies toward an LL.M.degree in the U.S., even if they never studied law before.Although most Korean law students studying in the U.S.enroll in a one year LL.M. or MCJ program, a smaller numberhave even entered three year J.D. programs. Some LL.M.students specialize in the fields like securities regulation,intellectual property law, anti-trust law, tax law or internationaltrade law (indeed, some have been sent by their law firm tospecialize in a particular field), but the majority seem to choose acurriculum of general legal studies in order to be introduced toAmerican legal concepts and legal education. Although they havehad a course in Anglo-American law as undergraduate law majors,and are constantly comparing Korean laws and legal institutions totheir American counterparts, Korean students benefit atAmerican law schools from the more in-depth treatment of theselegal topics, conducted in English by an American professor usingthe Socratic method. They may also benefit from discussions withtheir American counterparts, both in and out of the classroomenvironment.In order to gain admission, the Korean law students have toachieve a high score on the TOEFL test, and are able to read mostof the material they are assigned - although it is difficult for theminitially. They have far more difficulty understanding the lectures,and are especially intimidated by class participation schemes suchas the Socratic method. This is mostly due to a general lack ofconfidence in their spoken English skills, but it may also be due, inpart, to the lecture style classes to which they are accustomed inKorea. Of course, gaining proficiency in spoken English isimportant if they are planning to deal with foreign clients in thefuture.KOREAN STUDENTS IN U.S. LAW SCHOOLSTraditionally, all Korean law students who planned to studylaw in the States wanted to study at Harvard, and if they felt theyhad a chance to enter Harvard's LL.M. program they wouldalmost always apply. Harvard Law School is certainly one of thebest, and many of the best and brightest Korean law students havestudied there, since it runs the biggest LL.M. program. TheHarvard name is still a big draw, but over the past decade or soKorean law students have begun to recognize that other schoolsprovide an excellent legal education as well. For example,students of tax law or international law will often choose to attendNYU, and those who aspire to be law professors tend to apply toYale. As students from other major law schools return to Koreaand spread the word of their alma maters, more and moreKoreans have become aware of the many excellent law schools inthe U.S. I try to help this process along by making students awareof the many options they have when choosing the schools to whichthey will apply, and by making them aware of the characteristics ofeach school, as I know them. This helps the students to select thelaw schools that most closely match their interests, goals, andabilities. At any rate it is those Koreans educated at Americanlaw schools that have been a locomotive for recent legal reformthat was required by the IMF mandates, because they areequipped with a broader and deeper global outlook and technicalknowledge.Because of my experiences studying and teaching atAmerican law schools, almost all of the SNU law school graduatescome to me seeking advice on choosing the right school, meetingthe applications requirements, and succeeding academically inU.S. law schools. The challenge for me is to guide each student toapply to the law schools that are appropriate for his or her goals,and then to assist them with advice and recommendations as theyapply to those law schools. The needs of each student aredifferent, so I may recommend different schools to differentstudents.In addition to Korean law students who wish to study in theUnited States, I have had several advisees who were Americanstudents studying law under my supervision at Seoul NationalUniversity. This is part of a recent trend in which an increasingnumber of foreign students are studying law in Korea. At first,our law school primarily had ethnic Koreans from Japan or China,as well as a few Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian students.Recently, however, we have had a few American, Australian,European and African students studying in our two-year master's2000]470 DICKINSON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 18:3degree program. A student from the Ivory Coast even obtained adoctoral degree from us.Two of my American advisees continued their legal studies inthe U.S. after completing their studies at SNU, one at Columbia,and one at NYU. I found myself in the unique position of advisingAmerican students about studying law in the U.S. as they cameout of our law school. Of course, I have advised many of ourKorean students about studying in the U.S., so this is nothing newto me, but it is somewhat different when dealing with Americanstudents coming from SNU to an American law school. First,most Korean students are interested in graduate studies, usuallyan LL.M., while these two American students were applying to theJ.D. programs at their respective schools. This affects advisingbecause the standards and criteria for admission are somewhatdifferent. More importantly, the American students are beingcompared to other American students, and it is up to me to try toshow how their experience in a Korean law school should beevaluated in comparison with the educational experiences of moretraditional applicants. Certainly an American student who hasstudied law at SNU in a totally Korean-language environmentwith other Korean law students has had a unique exposure to ourlegal system, and this is something which must be explained toadmissions officers at U.S. law schools as they seek to evaluate myadvisees.Because of the very few foreign students in our law schools(we have no more than ten at SNU at any given time), no specialprograms have been implemented to support the special needs offoreign students. There are many problems facing foreignstudents, and it usually falls to me to counsel them and help themaddress these problems because of my experience in the U.S. andexposure to international legal education, not to mention that Ican communicate with them in English.Among the most daunting problems faced by foreign studentsis of course the difficulty of the Korean language. This isespecially true in the field of law because of the requirement thatstudents learn many technical terms and approximately 1,500Chinese characters. Very few Western students have the linguisticbackground required to handle legal texts in Korean, and there isno structured program designed to address this problem. Second,and perhaps related, is that there is no "introduction to Koreanlaw" course for foreign students, which might be especially helpfulto students coming from common law jurisdictions. If we decideto encourage more foreign students to come to study law at SNU,KOREAN STUDENTS IN U.S. LAW SCHOOLSa course introducing Korean legal concepts and legal terminology(and Chinese characters) may be necessary.Again, due to the small number of foreigners in our lawschools, we have no special advising programs to help them tonavigate the vagaries of course selection or to clear theadministrative hurdles which face all of our students. One studentwas unable to register for his graduation test because of amiscommunication with the registrar's office, for example. In theabsence of any program set up to deal with foreign students, Ihave kept close tabs on them to help them in terms of choosingcourses and professors, and have been available to discuss anyquestions they may have. If the trend continues and we havemore foreign students, it may be necessary to implement a morestructured advising system. For the time being, I imagine that Iwill continue to advise the Western students we may have at SNU.In terms of advising my American students as they apply toAmerican law schools, I have been fortunate to have close ties tosome of the best law schools in this country. Therefore, I can offerthese American students very good advice on which law schoolsthey should apply to, and what kinds of qualifications such schoolsare looking for. In some ways, I can treat these students asKoreans, in that I know far more about American law schoolsthan they do, even though they are Americans. And when Irecommend these students to my colleagues at American lawschools, I can do so without reservation because these studentshave successfully completed law studies in a very difficultlanguage in classes with some of the best law students in Korea.My hope is that some of them, well equipped with Korean law andlanguage proficiency, will someday start a Korean legal studiesprogram at an American law school. Another point is that for toolong the educational exchange has been a one-way street, withKoreans studying in the U.S., but very few Americans studying inKorean law schools. I hope in the future we will have a morebalanced approach to better understand and interact with eachother's legal systems.2000]

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Korean Students In U.S. Law Schools and Foreign Students at Seoul National University Law School

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