The Ministry of Justice set the number of successful candidates for this year's 15th bar exam at 1,714. Among 3,364 applicants, those who scored at least 889.11 points in total passed.
According to the Ministry of Justice on the 23rd, it finalized this pass scale after compiling the deliberation opinion of the Bar Examination Management Committee and the views of the Supreme Court, the Korean Bar Association, and the Association of Law Schools. Compared with last year's 1,744 successful candidates, the number is down by 30.
The pass rate among applicants was tallied at 50.95%. It was 1.33 percentage points lower than last year's 52.28%. For first-time takers from the 15th class who earned their law school master's degrees this year, the pass rate was 70.04%, and the pass rate relative to the enrollment cap of 2,000 was 85.7%. The cumulative pass rate for applicants who used all five attempts within five years after graduation was 88.43%.
The Ministry of Justice said it provided accommodations for 26 test-takers with disabilities, including five who are totally blind, such as extended test time, voice-supported computers and audio-format test papers, and the assignment of proctors dedicated to those who are totally blind.
The Bar Examination Management Committee also adopted recommendations to prepare long-term improvement measures, noting that 15 years have passed since the introduction of the law school system and the bar exam but conflicts over the system continue. The recommendations call for reexamining the extent to which the premises and agreements at the time of introducing law schools and the bar exam have been carried out, and for refining the selection and training system for legal professionals to reflect changes in the legal market.
In addition, to ease the issues of specialized course cancellations, failure to fill full-time faculty positions, and concentration on certain subjects, it recommended introducing absolute grading for elective subject exams. However, it said that measures to normalize specialized subject education—such as introducing a credit-completion system and developing standard indicators for academic achievement—should be a prerequisite.