"Justice is Bought with Money"... The Dangerous Philosophy of a Lawyer with a 100% Win Rate

What if there were a lawyer who puts legal fees ahead of justice and money ahead of winning a case? In the first episode of the JTBC drama 'Legal High', the unique values of lawyer Go Tae-rim, who boasts a 100% win rate and moves only for money, are revealed.

"Justice is Bought with Money"... Obsession with a 100% Win Rate

In the video, lawyer Go Tae-rim tells a client firmly, "Justice is bought with money." He believes that a lawyer's role is to win unconditionally, regardless of the means or methods used. If they lose a trial, he shows an attitude that does not tolerate defeat, saying, "You should quit being a lawyer who loses and then holds the client's hand and cries, saying they did their best." Declaring, "I never lose," he adds regarding his reason for being obsessed with victory, "You should quit having a lawyer who loses and then holds the client's hand and cries, saying 'I did my best' and so on."

This attitude of his is depicted not merely as a matter of personality, but as a philosophy directly linked to survival. Mentioning memories of how suffocating it was every single day due to tuition, living expenses, and goshiwon costs during his impoverished past, he shows an obsession with winning to maintain his current life. To win in a "courtroom where justice does not work," he demands money and shows him pressuring clients under the pretext of consultation fees. In particular, the way he pushes a client by stating he will immediately charge a 5 million won consultation fee if they say even one more word during a consultation reveals his thoroughly calculating side.

The Hidden Side of the 'Trash Soup' Case that Moved the Judge's Emotions

The video shows a glimpse of how Go Tae-rim maintains a 100% win rate. In an appeal trial for damages involving a franchise representative, Go Tae-rim uses a strategy to stimulate the judge's emotions for the defendant. He unfolds a narrative that the defendant of the 'Trash Soup' case, which used leftover pig bones for broth, was trying to recreate the love of his mother who was poor during his childhood. The logic is that what the defendant wanted to recreate was his mother's taste, which is love.

In this process, the presiding judge, who is famous for being cold, empathizes with the defendant's story and sheds tears, eventually leading to a miracle where the first instance's compensation ruling is reduced to one-tenth or results in something close to a criminal acquittal. This was a result that coincided with the story of the judge's late mother picking up chicken feet at the market and boiling them into chicken soup. Regarding this, Go Tae-rim cynically explains, "Law is after all something done by humans, and a judge is also an emotional animal with hot blood flowing through them."

"There are a Hundred Justices"... Questions Asking the Essence of the Courtroom

A confrontation with a character who opposes Go Tae-rim's values also appears. When a young lawyer who wants to realize justice asks him a question, Go Tae-rim responds, "If there are a hundred humans, there are a hundred justices. The courtroom is an asura where each person insists they are right." Since prosecutors also believe themselves to be justice, his view is that the courtroom is ultimately just a battlefield where everyone claims to be right.

He faces the reality of the courtroom, where legal loopholes and human desires are intertwined, saying, "Setting justice on high does not mean you can win." The tight tension between the lawyer who moves for money and those who believe in justice forms the core conflict structure of the drama.