There is a man who was able to live a different life thanks to the words from his supervisor. The words helped him focus on the bar exam for 7 years without giving up. As a result, he passed the examination. The CBT reporters met Kim Han-geun, a lawyer for the law firm Joo-seong, which successfully deals with all sorts of construction disputes and legal matters regarding fair trade. -Ed.


What was your motivation to become a lawyer?

- When I entered middle school, my father passed away. After that, my family became poor, so it was natural for all of my family members to try to save money, and my mother solely underwent lots of hardships. Then, I decided to enter a technical high school to earn money at a tender age, so I enrolled into the Dept. of Aeronautical Maintenance of Cheong-ju Machine Technical High School. However, it was hard to get a job related with the flight industries, so I got a license for boiler operation and management. It was relatively easy to get a job as a boiler operator because it is a kind of dispatched labor, so it is easier to find employment than other occupations. However, I soon realized that it was not easy to do the work. In 1999, my first workplace was a machine room in CBNU Hospital. I worked in poor conditions, working 24 hours in 6 days and having just one day off. At that time, I saw my dreary future by looking at my co-workers, but I didn’t take any action. After serving in the army, I worked in a machine room of a Samsung building in Seoul. However, it was too hard, so I had a mind to go back to Cheong-ju. Unexpectedly, one of my supervisors took me to Myongwolgwan in the Walker Hill Hotel and bought me very expensive beef ribs. After that, he told me that he had been meeting a lot of people but that he especially wanted to work with me. Therefore, he suggested getting a license for Engineer Fire Protection Systems if I wanted to work with him. It was the first time that I was appreciated by anyone. Afterward, I finally came back to Cheong-ju and re-entered the machine room in CBNU Hospital. Because of his words about working together, I got a license for Engineer Fire Protection Systems while working in the hospital. Then, I was hired at a construction inspection company, but I kept studying for acquiring licenses to get a better position. Even though I didn’t keep in touch with him, I think that he gave me one of the most important experiences in my life.

Have you had any memorable trials while working as a lawyer?

- The most memorable case was a minor civil suit related with construction in Cheong-ju. Some builders made a contract for constructing buildings, but they stopped in the middle of construction and suddenly required extra fees to continue construction. My client was someone who requested a country house. However, the construction company did some slapdash construction, and then they notified my client that no more construction would proceed. While working as a lawyer, I sometimes feel that my counterparts have ill will, so I resolve to win the affair because I think failure would hurt my self-esteem. I thought that if I tried hard, I could win the case, so I made a particular effort. Two years passed, a very long time for a civil case, which usually takes 6 months. As my counterparts dragged the case out, I was in the courtroom a lot. Eventually, I won the case. I was very proud because I won after two years of effort. Sometimes, I still meet the client and have a drink.

How did you study to become a lawyer?

- When I entered the Dept. of Law in Korea National Open University, most of my senior students were studying for the bar exam. However, it was no doubt that they would not pass the exam because they always hung out instead of studying. I knew if I studied harder than them, I could pass the exam. However, I really liked spending time with my friends, so I had to change my surroundings to study in earnest. Thus, I severed all contact with my friends. Then, some of them came to me and told me angrily that I was wasting my life studying with little chance of success. Anyway, I never contacted my friends. After steeling my heart, I was able to make the proper atmosphere to study. Then, I continuously studied for the bar exam. For the first 10 months, I combined work and study. After 10 months, I couldn’t bear exceeding my physical limits, so I quit my work. At 27, I was wholly wrapped up in studying. However, as I was living in a rural village, it was hard to gain much information about the exam, and I didn’t have much money. Therefore, I studied civil law from a book written in Chinese characters that my senior gave me. There were a lot of Chinese characters in the book, so I had to translate by using a dictionary. It was difficult to read, finishing just 30 pages in more than 10 hours. There was a moment when I read one page in an hour. It took 4 months to read the book. Surprisingly, there was the same civil law book already translated into Korean in Seoul. I can still remember the contents of the book.
  It was reasonable that I failed the exam on my first try. After more than two failures, I went to Seoul to take some private classes, thinking that the next test would be the last time. I made a study group with other students. After studying hard, I passed the preliminary bar exam. However, I failed to pass the second-round of the exam after three attempts. Test-takers should start from the first-round after 3 failures in the preliminary exam. At that time, my mother suggested that I stop studying, so I told her that I would quit after one more try, which was my fourth one. After passing the first-round exam before, it became easier for me to pass, but the rule had changed for the second-round exam, and English became a required subject. I was never good at English during my school life, so I thought that it was the end. Eventually, I gave up on studying English. However, while taking the second-round exam, there was a 25 point essay question. No matter how hard I studied, there were always questions that I didn’t know. I couldn’t answer that question, so I decided that it would be better to transcribe the contents of some law books than writing no answer. While transcribing, I thought that I would never be able to answer that question no matter how hard I studied. Fortunately, with earnestness, I finally passed the bar exam.

What is your future life goal?

- I want to found a professional firm which specializes in construction parts, which is my professional field. When I worked in Seoul, I didn’t handle specialized parts. However, in that way, it was hard to earn a lot of money and to live a stable life. Thus, I want to be an expert in my field and then to be recognized by people after solving affairs in my professional area.

By Min Byung-woo l bw38@cbnu.ac.kr
By Hong Ye-ha l yh37@cbnu.ac.kr