Law School (TV series)

Law School (Korean: 로스쿨; RR: Loseukul) is a South Korean television series starring Kim Myung-min, Kim Bum, Ryu Hye-young, and Lee Jung-eun. It premiered on JTBC on April 14, 2021 and aired every Wednesday and Thursday at 21:00 KST.^[2][3] The episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.^[4]

Law School
Promotional poster
Hangul	로스쿨
Genre	Legal drama
Created by	JTBC
Written by	Seo In
Directed by	Kim Seok-yoon
Starring	Kim Myung-min Kim Bum Ryu Hye-young Lee Jung-eun
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producer	Kim Ji-youn
Producers	Kim Seok-yoon Choi Sai-rack
Running time	70 minutes[1]
Production companies	JTBC Studios Studio Phoenix Gonggamdong House
Original release
Network	JTBC
Release	April 14 (2021-04-14) – June 9, 2021 (2021-06-09)

Synopsis

Set in Hankuk University Law School, the series tells the story of students and professors who come across an unusual case. A professor at a prestigious law school and his students get involved in an unprecedented case. It is a drama about the process of prospective lawyers realizing authenticity, law, and justice.^[5]

During a supervised mock trial class, a law school professor is found dead at the school, and Professor Yang is arrested as the main suspect. Kang Sol, Han Joon-Hwi, and other students at Hankuk work together to reveal the truth behind Professor Seo's death, and prove Professor Yang's innocence.

Cast

Main

• Kim Myung-min as Yang Jong-hoon, a prosecutor-turned-professor who teaches criminal law. He is stern and cold, but people close to him know how kind he really is.
• Kim Bum as Han Joon-hwi, a first-year student who always gets the top grades among his peers. He is a smart student who is also the nephew of the murdered professor.
  • An Seong-won as young Joon-hwi
• Ryu Hye-young as Kang Sol A, a first-year student who entered law school through special admission. She was barely able to get into law school and is Ye-Seul's good friend. She also is the twin sister of Erica Shin.
• Lee Jung-eun as Kim Eun-sook, a judge-turned-professor who teaches civil law. She is a 'fun to be with' professor who is liked by her students. She is a good friend of Professor Yang, and tries her best to prove him innocent.

Supporting

Hankuk University Law School Faculty

• Ahn Nae-sang as Seo Byung-ju
• Gil Hae-yeon as Oh Jung-hee
• Woo Hyun as Sung Dong-il
• Oh Man-seok as Kang Ju-man
• Lee Seung-hun as Jung Dae-hyeon

Hankuk University Law School Students

• Lee Soo-kyung as Kang Sol B, a first-year student.^[6] She is Kang Sol A's roommate. She belongs to a rich family and is continuously pressured by her mother to perform well and get to the top.
• Lee David as Seo Ji-ho. He is a smart yet indifferent student who is trying to get revenge for his father's death.
• Go Youn-jung as Jeon Ye-seul, a first-year student.^[7] She is abused by her boyfriend, who is Assemblyman Ko's son as well.
• Hyun Woo as Yoo Seung-jae, a former medical student who turned to law school. He always scored the best marks until a secret of his is revealed.
• Lee Kang-ji as Min Bok-gi
• Kim Min-seok as Jo Ye-beom

Prosecutors' Office

• Park Hyuk-kwon as Jin Hyeong-u
• Kim Yong-joon as Chief Prosecutor Kim
• Min Dae-shik

Kang Sol A's Family

• Shin Mi-young as Kang Sol A's mother
• Park So-yi as Kang Byeol, Kang Sol A's younger sister
• Ryu Hye-young as Kang Dan / Erica Shin, Sol A’s twin sister who has a secret story. She decided to move to Boston, USA.

Others

• Jung Won-joong as Assemblyman Ko Hyeong-su
• Jo Jae-ryong as Lee Man-ho
• Lee Hwi-jong as Ko Young-chang, Ye-seul's boyfriend.
• Lee Chun-hee as Park Geun-tae
• Sung Yeo-jin as Han Joon-hwi's aunt
• Park Mi-hyeon as Han Hye-gyeong, Kang Sol B's mother
• Actor Unknown as Choi Jae-cheol

Production

Development

The then network-less project was first announced by the production company Gonggamdong House in June 2018 under the working title Law School Monsters, making it South Korea's first law school television series, with Seo In (Judge vs. Judge) as the writer.^[8] JTBC acquired the broadcasting rights in the summer of 2020.^[9][10]

Casting

In mid-September 2020, JTBC confirmed that Kim Myung-min, Kim Bum, Ryu Hye-young, and Lee Jung-eun would star in the series.^[11]

Kim Seok-yoon, who previously collaborated with actors Kim Myung-min and Kim Bum on the Detective K film series, joined the project as the director.^[12][13] He is also a co-producer for the series, together with Gonggamdong House's Choi Sai-rack.

Original soundtrack

Law School OST
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	2021
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	YG PLUS Studio Maum C JTBC Studio

Part 1

Released on April 22, 2021 (2021-04-22)^[14]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"We are"	MaO	Jayins Naiv	Lee Seung-yoon	3:23
2.	"We are" (inst.)		Jayins Naiv		3:22
Total length:					6:45

Part 2

Released on May 6, 2021 (2021-05-06)^[15]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"We are (Acoustic Ver.)"	MaO	Jayins Naiv	Darin	3:27
2.	"We are (Acoustic Ver.)" (inst.)		Jayins Naiv		3:27
Total length:					6:55

Part 3

Released on May 20, 2021 (2021-05-20)^[16]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"X"	Choi Jung-in Safira.K	Choi Jung-in Jung Sung-min Safira.K	Safira.K	2:39
2.	"X" (inst.)		Choi Jung-in Jung Sung-min Safira.K		2:38
Total length:					5:17

Viewership

Season		Episode number																Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	1	1.066	0.812	0.861	0.908	0.914	0.972	0.989	1.185	1.201	1.235	1.292	1.108	1.519	1.167	1.313	1.329	1.117

Law School : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea^[17]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[17]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	April 14, 2021	5.113% (4th)	5.659% (4th)
2	April 15, 2021	4.112% (5th)	4.531% (4th)
3	April 21, 2021	4.338% (5th)	4.621% (4th)
4	April 22, 2021	4.318% (5th)	4.908% (4th)
5	April 28, 2021	4.473% (4th)	4.801% (4th)
6	April 29, 2021	4.676% (4th)	5.345% (4th)
7	May 5, 2021	4.505% (4th)	5.346% (4th)
8	May 6, 2021	5.388% (4th)	6.044% (3rd)
9	May 12, 2021	5.508% (4th)	5.645% (4th)
10	May 19, 2021	5.652% (4th)	6.547%(3rd)
11	May 20, 2021	6.249% (4th)	6.796% (4th)
12	May 26, 2021	5.550% (4th)	6.005% (3rd)
13	May 27, 2021	6.891% (3rd)	7.702% (3rd)
14	June 2, 2021	5.694% (4th)	6.241% (3rd)
15	June 3, 2021	6.309% (4th)	6.723% (3rd)
16	June 9, 2021	6.114% (5th)	6.523% (5th)
Average		5.306%	5.840%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS). No episode aired on May 13, 2021 due to the broadcast of the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards.

References

1. "Law School". JTBC Worldwide. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
2. Moon, Ji-yeon (January 22, 2021). "[SC초점] 조승우→김명민→전도연→고현정, JTBC 구원투수 될까". Sports Chosun (in Korean). Retrieved January 24, 2021.
3. "Kim Myung-min to Come Back in April With "Law School"". HanCinema. February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
4. "New On Netflix April 2021, Plus What's Coming Next". Decider. April 1, 2021. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
5. "로스쿨". JTBC (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-17.
6. "Lee Soo-kyung to Star in "Law School"". HanCinema. January 27, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
7. "The Rediscovery of Lee Si-young, Park Gyu-young, Go Min-si and Go Yoon-jung From "Sweet Home"". HanCinema. February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
8. Son, Ye-ji (June 27, 2018). ""국내 최초 로스쿨 드라마"… '로스쿨 몬스터즈' 제작 확정". The Viewer (in Korean). Retrieved January 25, 2021.
9. "Kim Myung-min Considering Drama "Law School"". HanCinema. June 21, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
10. "Kim Beom to Consider JTBC Drama "Law School"". HanCinema. September 15, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
11. "Kim Myung-min, Ryu Hye-young, Kim Beom and Lee Jung-eun to Star in JTBC "Law School"". HanCinema. September 17, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
12. Kim, So-yeon (July 20, 2017). "Kim Bum to return to big screen for 'Detective K'". The Korea Herald. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
13. Jim, Min-ji (February 1, 2018). "Hit period comedy 'Detective K' returns for round 3". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
14. "로스쿨 OST Part.1" [Law School OST Part.1]. Melon. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
15. "로스쿨 OST Part.2" [Law School OST Part.2]. Melon. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
16. "로스쿨 OST Part.3" [Law School OST Part.3]. Melon. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
17. "Nielsen Korea Cable Daily -TOP 10 LIST FOR TV PROGRAMS". Nielsen Korea. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2021.

External links

• Official website (in Korean)
• Law School at IMDb
• Law School at HanCinema