Under the old system: students begin the four-year
undergraduate degree at 18, graduate with an LL.B. at 22,
and begin two to three years of bar examination
preparation. Males must serve two and a half years in the
Korean military while in their 20s. Thus, the typical age for
men to take the bar examination for the first time is in their
early 30s, while women typically first take the exam in
their late 20s, since they do not have compulsory military
service.viii Adding the mandatory two years of training
after successful completion of the bar exam, men are in
their mid-30s when they begin practicing law, and women
are in their late 20s or early 30s.