May It Please the Court ~ Never Give Harmful Legal Advice

“May It Please the Court” is a Korean drama series released in 2022, with 12 episodes, and categorized as a Legal Drama miniseries; streaming on Disney+/Hulu; and it is English dubbed and subbed. It is an adaptation of a book titled “Let Me Start the Argument”, which is written by a lawyer and based on real cases.

♦ From Becoming a Partner to Almost Going to Prison is a Bad Career Path

In “May It Please the Court”, Noh Chak-hee is an attorney at Jangsan Law Firm. But it’s not because her father was wealthy and made sure his little girl was educated and got a job in his law firm. It was her grandmother who opened the door of opportunity for her. Her grandmother worked as a housekeeper and before she passed away she asked her wealthy employer to take care of her granddaughter.

He honored her wish by making sure Noh Chak-hee was educated and after passing the bar exam, given a position in Jangsan Law Firm. From that point, Noh Chak-hee built her reputation as an ace lawyer who won most of her cases. She dreamed of one day becoming a partner in the firm. But there were others who not only wanted to crush her dreams but if she didn’t even exist that would have been better.

Noh Chak-hee takes on a wide range of cases and in the process, she has to cross paths with public defenders. Jwa Si-Baek is one such public defender. His background is impressive and he could have also had a job as an attorney at a prestigious law firm like her. But the career path he chose was to work as a public defender. Little did Noh Chak-hee at the time of their first meeting that she was going to end up working closely with him.

The wealthy employer who raised Noh Chak-hee is the father of Jang Ki-do, CEO of Jangsan Law Firm. Jang Ki-do does not appear to harbor any ill will towards Noh Chak-hee. He encourages her to strive to become a partner. It’s not an unattainable dream. However, there is a very difficult case that she must take. It involves a woman who stabbed her husband but says she does not remember.

The incident is a little bit more complicated because the woman was taking pills and there was a lawsuit against the company that manufactured those pills. There were numerous complaints that the drug caused serious sad effects such as violent behavior. The woman, i.e. the accused murderer, had participated in a clinical trial that tested the pill. It appears she displayed the side effects of the pill because she violently attacked and killed her husband, but can’t remember what happened.

Noh Chak-hee accepts the case and visits the woman in prison to provide her with legal advice. Her legal advice to the woman was for her to kill herself. What? Yes, that was Noh Chak-hee’s advice. She told the woman to commit suicide. Guess what? The woman attempted to commit suicide but did not succeed.

Meanwhile, Noh Chak-hee was made a partner. On the day that she stepped forward to make her acceptance speech, law enforcement officials walked in and announced that she was under arrest. Arrest? For what? Uuuhh … for instigating a suicide.

For the record. The woman had been accused of committing a homicide. But the woman said nothing about committing suicide. That was Noh Chak-hee’s legal counsel. Just so you know … lawyers are not supposed to do that. Not just lawyers. ANYBODY can go to jail for encouraging a person to commit suicide. What was Noh Chak-hee thinking?

Since the woman did not succeed in killing herself, Noh Chak-hee’s punishment for such a rash act … was that instead of becoming a partner, the law firm suspended her. (She should be thankful they didn’t terminate her.) She must take a job working as a member of the Seoul public defender’s office. Guess who she has to work with? The noble public defender, Jwa Si-Baek.

Noh Chak-hee so desperately wanted to become a partner at Jangsan Law Firm and was willing to do anything to achieve that. Jwa Si-Baek purposely chose his career path as a public defender. Becoming a public defender is not the career path she chose. But maybe she should have. The work experience was going to be illuminating.

Main Characters:

• No Chak-Hee (played by Jung Ryeo-won, “Castaway on the Moon”, “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon”, “Wok of Love”)
• Jwa Si-Baek (played by Lee Kyu-hyung, “Seoul Vibe”, “Happiness”, “The Witch’s Diner”, “Stranger”, “Uncle Samsik”)
• Jang Gi-Do (played by Jung Jin-young, “Queen of Tears”, “Shadow Detective 2”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.3 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.2 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 9.2 out of 10 stars

My personal rating is 9 out of 10 stars.

Sometimes you think you’re on the right path going up, but something happens that puts you on a better path. That’s my takeaway from “May It Please the Court”.

No Chak-Hee, the female lead character, should have always had her guard up. It’s not like her enemies were not clearly visible to her. It was obvious she was constantly surrounded by people who did not mean her well and never wanted her to be successful. However, she was blinded by her own ambition of becoming a partner in the law firm. That’s why when the police walked in and put the cuffs on her she was shocked. And it wasn’t even her enemies who screwed her over. She messed up all by herself. Her enemies were just happy that she did.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• May It Please The Court Review | But Why Tho?
• Disney+ K-drama May It Please the Court: Jung Ryeo-won returns in familiar yet confident new legal drama | South China Morning Post
• New courtroom K-drama ‘May It Please The Court’ to premiere on Disney+ this year | NME
• K-Drama First Look: “May It Please The Court” Evinces Different Motivations of Lawyers | kdramadiary

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

UK, Dubbed. “May It Please the Court | English Trailer | Disney Plus.” YouTube Video. YouTube, November 5, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuXlbOV16hE.‌