Netflix’s “Beyond the Bar” Shows the True Role of a Litigation Lawyer in Courtroom Battles! [Litigation 101 Explained!]
- Disha Paul
- Aug 19, 2025
- 3 min read
Beyond the Bar follows a rookie attorney who joins a top law firm and learns real courtroom work from a sharp senior partner. It is a legal workplace story with weekly cases, careful strategy, and quiet lessons about ethics and growth.
The drama keeps the focus on people. Each case is about harm, healing, and the choices lawyers make for clients. You see how a team prepares filings, plans questions, and balances truth, risk, and results.
What the Drama Is About
A young lawyer, Kang Hyo-min, joins Yullim Law Firm and is paired with partner Yoon Seok-hoon. Their clash of styles, idealism vs. icy precision, drives the courtroom strategy and the office politics around it. The production team has said the goal is to tell “healing” case stories grounded in people’s wounds, not just verdicts.
Recent episodes show a wide range of disputes: one weekend focused on a painter accused of plagiarism and a rookie’s first solo defense, while another centered on assault allegations and the ethical tightrope inside firms.
Litigation Lawyer 101: What the Show Gets Right
1) What does a litigation lawyer do in Korean court cases?
A litigation lawyer represents clients in disputes that go to court. In the drama, the litigation partner (Seok-hoon) shows the role clearly: setting the case strategy, signing official documents, arguing in hearings, and protecting the client’s interests.
Junior lawyers (Hyo-min, Jin-woo, Min-jeong) support this work by drafting briefs, preparing witnesses, handling smaller motions, and gaining experience on active cases. This teamwork exemplifies how litigation lawyers strike a balance between leadership and training within a firm.
2) Why do the courtroom arguments look different from US dramas?
Litigation lawyers in Korea work under a judge-led system. Civil cases do not use juries; instead, professional judges question both parties, manage the evidence, and decide on the outcome. That is why hearings in the show feel very judge-driven compared to American courtroom dramas.
Because Korea’s civil procedure has limited discovery, litigation lawyers cannot do wide-ranging depositions like in the US. Instead, they focus on strong written submissions, sharp questioning, and strategic presentations at each short court session.
3) How do litigation lawyers handle criminal cases?
In criminal trials, Korea sometimes allows citizen participation, where ordinary people sit as a jury-like panel. However, the final decision is still made by judges. In these cases, litigation lawyers prepare both for judge-led questioning and for presenting arguments to lay participants.
The show mainly highlights law-firm litigation work, so most hearings are bench-style, giving viewers a closer look at how litigation lawyers operate in real Korean courts.
How Beyond the Bar Teaches Without a Lecture
Case framing: Episodes start with a fact problem (e.g., plagiarism, assault), then cut to strategy—what can we prove, what is admissible, and what relief to seek. That mirrors how real teams triage a file.
Mentor-rookie relationship: The partner pushes the junior to test arguments and meet deadlines. It’s tough love, but it reflects how training happens in busy litigation teams.
Ethics under pressure: Conflicts, prior contacts with opposing counsel, and client management are ongoing hurdles. The nightclub connection subplot in Episode 6 is a neat way of showing why lawyers document and disclose.
Cast and Characters
Lee Jin-wook as Yoon Seok-hoon: a cool, risk-taking litigation partner who leads the firm’s courtroom team.
Jung Chae-yeon as Kang Hyo-min: a principled rookie lawyer with strong convictions.
Lee Hak-joo as Lee Jin-woo: an easygoing associate who reads the room and steadies the team.
Jeon Hye-bin as Heo Min-jeong: a later-in-life associate who brings empathy and grit.
Where and When to Watch
The drama is currently airing on SBS in South Korea and is also available for streaming on Netflix for international viewers. New episodes Saturdays and Sundays at 10:40 PM KST on JTBC; they drop on Netflix on the same days.
Beyond the Bar premiered in August 2024 and is set to have 16 episodes. At present, 6 episodes are already out, and fans are hooked on the unfolding story.
Why You Should Watch?
If you like workplace growth stories with real legal texture, which are short, judge-led hearings, tight filings, and strategy sparring, then this show is right up your alley.
Netflix’s weekly drop makes it easy to keep up with the cases as they air in Korea.
Which role pulls you in more, the razor-sharp partner or the rookie who learns by doing, and why?
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