"Said White Was Good for My Fortune": Law Student Caught Using Phone During Bar Exam

A court has ruled that the suspension of a law school student's eligibility to take the bar exam, after being caught using a mobile phone during the test, is lawful.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled against the plaintiff, identified as A, in a lawsuit filed against the Minister of Justice to cancel the suspension of their eligibility to take the bar exam.

Previously, A was hit with a five-year ban on taking the bar exam by the Ministry of Justice for possessing and using a mobile phone during the test.

Under the current Attorney-at-Law Examination Act, candidates are limited to taking the exam five times within five years of earning a master's degree from a law school. As this ban effectively prevents A from taking the exam further, the student filed a lawsuit last July to challenge the decision.

A argued that there were no grounds for the disciplinary action, claiming that they merely possessed the phone without using it and that no illicit materials were stored on the device.

However, the court did not accept A's argument, with the testimony of the exam proctors at the time of the incident playing a significant role.

The proctors testified that A repeatedly took something out, placed it under the test paper, and glanced at it. When they demanded that A hand over the phone, A refused for three to four minutes, demanding that they "bring a warrant."

The court noted that if it had been a simple mistake or mere possession, it would be common sense for the student to immediately show the phone to the proctors to strongly assert that it was not used for cheating, adding that A's reaction could not be reasonably explained.

Furthermore, regarding the fact that A had wrapped the phone in white paper and set the screen to display only a white background without any icons, A explained that they did so because "a fortune-telling reading said white was good for me." The court dismissed this as "an explanation that is difficult to view as reasonable."

The court concluded that the restriction on A's eligibility to take the exam was lawful, emphasizing that a high level of ethics is required of lawyers.

Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.