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Law school students sing job blues |
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By Yun Suh-young
Third-year law school students are anxious ― their job prospects are not as bright as they hoped when they entered the institutions, paying high tuition.
They are the first batch of lawyer aspirants graduating in February since the U.S.-style law school system was introduced here in 2009.
Their future is blurry though ― most of them don’t have a place to work at if they pass the state exam to win licenses to practice law.
About 1,500 are expected to pass the exam in January. But only one third of them ― mostly from Seoul National University and other top-tier schools ― are expected to land jobs at law firms, prosecution offices and other judiciary organizations.
With the limited number of jobs available at law firms, professors and students have demanded the government take steps to address structural problems overshadowing the law school system.
They argue that state organizations should hire more lawyers and private companies need to revamp their recruiting systems to give law school students greater job opportunities.
“The real reason behind students’ anxiety and confusion is the lack of an established recruiting system at companies and in the government sector,” said Kim Hyoung-joo, president of the Law School Students’ Association of Korea.
“Some students want to set up their own offices when they graduate. But the problem is they won’t have the opportunity because the government-set mandatory in-service training period for law school graduates will keep them from opening their own offices immediately,” Kim said.
For six months, those who pass the state-administered license exam but don’t land jobs at law firms or judiciary organizations must go through the training.
The situation is exacerbated by the lack of transparent and efficient recruitment systems.
“Companies want to hire in-house lawyers, but they don’t have a set standard on how to recruit them. Small and medium-sized law firms are reluctant to hire new lawyers because of the cost,” Kim said. “They need to wait for the six-month training period to end until they can make use of the new lawyers. But these companies don’t have enough manpower so they need people who can start right away. These are some of the structural problems in the job market,” said Kim.
The problems were evident in a recent job fair for law school students.
Students who attended the Korean Law School Job Fair in southern Seoul earlier this month complained that they didn’t get a job interview opportunity.
“Students were very disappointed after the job fair because participating companies didn’t seem to have a concrete plan about recruiting new lawyers,” said a second-year student surnamed Lee at Dong-A University Law School in Busan.
“Many of us second years participated in the event along with our seniors. Students from provincial schools such as Chungnam and Chonnam national universities’ law schools even rented a bus to come to Seoul but went home disappointed because no plans were set for recruiting lawyers next year.”
Many students were apparently perplexed by the event.
“We were upset because the companies didn’t carry out job interviews as was announced. We’re third-year students busy studying for the state exam and we made extra time to go there but many of the companies said they didn’t even know how they should recruit law school students,” said a third-year at Ewha Womans University Law School.
At a loss
The 29-year-old, who refused to be named, said she understood the situation because it’s a new process for companies as well.
“I think companies are concerned about the pay and treatment of new lawyers. In the past, in-house lawyers were given the title, ‘department head.’ Now since so many lawyers will be hired, I guess companies are confused about what title to give them,” she said.
“As for the public sector, in many cases, the number of lawyers they can hire is limited by law. They only hire new ones when someone quits. So there’s hardly an opportunity to work in the public field.”
Another student who went to the job fair said she was disappointed by the lack of set recruiting procedures.
“Some companies even said we could apply during the open recruitment season when the undergrads apply. They didn’t seem to know what to do with us. That’s a pity,” said a 32-year-old second-year student at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Law School.
“Some students want to work at government ministries such as the foreign ministry. But most students don’t know how and when they should apply because there aren’t any announcements or notices about recruitment plans by the government.”
Call for change
Last week, the heads of 25 law schools called for the government to hire more lawyers at a symposium hosted by the Korean Association of Law Schools (KALS).
“We ask the National Assembly, the government and related organizations to improve the current system to allow more lawyers into the field to provide better legal services to the people,” they said in a joint statement.
At the moment, 228 lawyers are working in government organizations. Excluding those working at the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Government Legislation, there are only 130 lawyers working in other public sectors. This means only four to five lawyers are in each department.
The law school professors said at least one lawyer per metropolitan council, local and autonomous district office must be hired.
“More lawyers are needed at public corporations. To provide high-quality legal services, we need more lawyers working in the public sector,” they said.
Students also echoed their views. They said the job market for lawyers needs to be diversified.
“We need to find a solution to the root cause of the problem facing law school graduates. Korean society, at the moment, doesn’t have a system that can accommodate these new lawyers in the public sector,” said Kim. “The United States has lots of law school graduates who work as law clerks and in the public sector. We’re just unprepared. We definitely need to change the system to suit the needs.”
Some students say their workplace doesn’t necessarily have to be a law firm.
“Not all students are seeking a job at law firms. They’re just desperate for a job. Most of the third-year students commonly think that they’d be glad to go to any workplace that would accept them,” said a third-year law school student at Ewha Womans University.
“We’re not that picky about the jobs as people think and the media reports. Not all of us need to go to law firms. We just need to get a job. If only there are more opportunities elsewhere, the problem is solved.”
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로스쿨생들 “정부, 기업은 채용 제도 개선해야”
로스쿨 3학년생들은 초조하다. 당장 내년이 졸업인데 변호사 시험에 합격한다 해도 취업이 막막하기 때문이다.
내년 1월에 시행되는 변호사 시험을 통과하는 인원은 1,500명. 그런데 그 중 500여명 정도만 이미 로펌에 취업이 확정된 상태다. 게다가 그들 대부분은 서울대와 서울 상위권 로스쿨생들이다.
각 로펌이 20-40명 정도를 채용한다고 치면 약 500여명 가량이 로펌에 취업이 가능한데 이는 1,500명의 변호사시험 합격자를 수용하기에는 턱없이 부족하다. 게다가 그 자리 또한 로스쿨생들로만 채워지는 것이 아니라 사법연수원 졸업생들과 경쟁해야 하기 때문이다.
최근 불거진 로스쿨생들의 취업난이 과연 한정된 로펌 자리로부터 오는걸까.
학생들과 교수들은 직역 자체의 한정성 때문이라고 말한다. 로펌으로 제한된 취업 때문에 다른 곳으로 가고 싶어도 제도적으로 뒷받침 되지 않아 변호사를 뽑지 않기 때문이다.
이 문제를 두고 로스쿨 학생과 교수들은 16일 대한상공회의소에서 열린 ‘로스쿨 졸업생의 직역확대와 제도개선 방안’에 대한 심포지엄에서 정부에 변호사 진출 직역의 확대를 촉구했다. 더 많은 변호사들의 채용을 위해서는 제도적인 개선이 필요하다는 것이다.
로스쿨학생협의회 김형주 회장은 “실제로 학생들이 불안한 이유는 제도적인 뒷받침이 안되있기 때문”이라며 “우리 사회가 변호사들을 다양한 분야에서 수용할 수 있도록 하는 제도적, 환경적 뒷받침이 부족하다”고 꼬집었다.
변호사시험을 합격한 후 받아야 하는 6개월 의무 수습교육 또한 취업난을 가중시킨다. 변호사시험에 합격하고도 취업을 하지 못한 학생들은 이 교육을 의무적으로 받아야 하는데 그렇지 않을 경우 변호사 사무실 개업이 불가능하기 때문이다.
효율적인 채용 제도의 부재 또한 취업난의 원인으로 꼽힌다.
김형주 회장은 “기업들은 사내 변호사를 뽑고 싶어도 언제 어떻게 뽑아야 할지 내부적인 규정이 정해져있지 않은 상태”라며 “설사 중소기업들이 변호사를 뽑고 싶어도 당장 사건수임을 맡길 수 없으니 기회 비용이 커서 채용을 꺼려한다”고 말했다.
학생들은 혼란 속
학생들도 변호사 채용에 대한 제도적 문제점에 대해 동의하는 분위기다.
이달 초 열린 ‘2011 대한민국 로스쿨 취업박람회’에 참가했던 동아대 로스쿨 2학년인 이모씨는 “학생들이 박람회에 왔다가 기업들이 뚜렷한 채용 계획이 없다 보니 많이들 실망하며 돌아갔다”고 말했다. 그는 “충남대, 전남대에선 버스까지 대절해서 많이 참석했는데 실망이 컸을 것” 이라고 했다.
박람회에 참석했던 이화여대 로스쿨 1기생은 “기업들이 공지됐던 대로 채용인터뷰를 하지 않아서 많이들 속상해했다” 며 “우리 3학년생들은 변호사 시험 준비하느라 바쁜 일정을 쪼개서 갔는데 기업들이 정확히 채용을 어떻게 해야할지 모르는 데가 많았다” 고 말했다.
그는 기업들의 입장도 이해는 된다며 “아마 기업들이 변호사 채용을 고민하는 이유가 대우 때문인 것 같다”고 말했다. 이전에는 사내 변호사로 채용하면 과장 타이틀을 줬는데 이제는 “인원이 많아지니 다 주기도 곤란할 것”이라는 것이다.
이어 “공공기관의 경우 변호사 수가 법으로 정해진 경우가 많다”며 “결원이 생길 때만 뽑고 워낙 인원도 적다 보니 그 쪽은 기회가 별로 없어 보인다”고 했다.
한국외대 2학년에 재학중인 32세 김모씨도 기업들의 채용 계획의 부재를 아쉬워했다.
그는 “어떤 기업들은 공채 때 일반 직원들과 같이 지원하라고 했다”며 “뭘 어떻게 해야 하나 잘 모르는 것 같았다” 고 말했다. 이어 “외교부라든지 정부기관에서 일하고 싶은 사람은 많은데 어떻게 지원을 해야하는지 모르는 실정이다. 공고 같은 것도 안올라온다” 며 안타까워했다.
김씨는 이어 “옛날보다는 진출방향도 그렇고 학생들의 관심사도 다양한데 기관들이 로스쿨생에 대한 채용계획이 부족한게 아쉽다”고 했다.
제도적 개선 필요
현재 법무부와 법제처를 제외한 정부기관에서 일하고 있는 변호사는 130여명에 불과하다. 각 부처당 변호사가 4-5명 밖에 없다는 것이다.
16일 심포지엄에 참석한 전국 25개 로스쿨 원장들은 “더 많은 변호사들이 공공기관에서 일해야 한다”며 정부기관에서의 변호사 채용 확대를 촉구했다.
김형주 로스쿨학생협의회 회장은 심포지엄의 취지는 긍정적이라며 “현 상황이 초래된 근본적인 원인에 대한 진단이 필요하다”고 말했다. 이어 “미국의 경우 로클럭 등 공공부문에서 일하는 변호사들이 많은데 우리는 변호사로서의 역량을 활용할 수 있는게 제도적, 사회적으로 안되있다” 며 제도적 개선을 촉구했다.
이화여대 로스쿨에 재학중인 29세 손모씨는 학생들이 반드시 로펌을 선호하는 것은 아니라며 “일단 어디든 취업이 되는게 중요하다”고 강조했다.
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ysy@koreatimes.co.kr |
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