The Extraordinary Attorney Woo

“My name is Woo Young-woo, whether it is read straight or flipped.

Kayak, deed, rotator, noon, racecar, Woo Young-woo.”

This is how our endearing lead of the show, Woo Young-Woo, a female rookie attorney who is on the autism spectrum, introduces herself every single time she meets someone new. If you haven’t met the Extraordinary Attorney Woo yet, then you can perhaps make a mini-introduction here, read through what I have to say and then move on to Netflix to see her chops in the court! :)

So for starters, Young-Woo has graduated top of her class from Seoul National University and after many a disappointment, she’s finally managed to land herself a job at one of the most reputed law firms in Seoul — Hanbada Law Firm as a rookie attorney. She joins the team of senior Attorney Jung, and is often paired on legal cases with two peer colleagues— Choi, a batchmate from her university; and Kwon, from another university but same class who often tries to sabotage our dear Woo’s plans. There’s a cute guy Lee Jun-ho from the litigations team who often supports her on her cases. And he just happens to be very empathetic, kind and well, cute? Did I say that already?

People of Hanbada Law Firm

Coming to her personal life, Young-Woo has been raised single-handedly by her father who also was studying to be an attorney once. But his life took a turn and now he runs a kimbap shop, of which Young-Woo is a dedicated customer (course she doesn’t pay to eat in her dad’s restaurant).

Her high-school bestie Dong Geu-ra-mi is her forever cheerleader and pumps her (a little extra) everytime she needs it. No points for guessing that Dong has been and continues to be a good-hearted rebel. Despite the cliched relationships, their equation is goofy refreshing as is their unique greeting for each other.

One topic of immense personal interest to Young-Woo that’s worthy of mention is whales (I will not talk about it though) and she often unknowingly ends up drawing analogies for her professional and personal hurdles with the ecosystem of whales.

While the 16 episode series follows the journey of Young-Woo going to court the first time, and eventually becoming a more “experienced” attorney through the spate of cases she deals with, it also talks about her personal growth as that story line is also taken forward. Largely, each episode deals with a new case — and all the cases that feature in the show have been craft fully thought out; they vary across a wide range of subjects such as corporate and family disputes, sexual assaults, murder, scams, social and community, womens’ rights, equal pay, etc.

The show manages to give a good insider view of how the attorney offices work (I am believing it to be authentic). When I first watched the show, it instantly reminded me of my consulting days because the projects and teams were designed in a similar manner — time bound projects (in most cases) led by a senior team member, and staffed with associates based on availability and expert. How you play in the ground is also not very different — you have lots of material to read and research, you put in requests to the client for data and then go through reams of data, build out your point of view, discuss with the team, engage with a client and then defend them in court (only the last part does not exactly exist in consulting :P). While the drill is cut and dry, what is so refreshing and welcoming is the management approach of Woos’ boss Attorney Jung — I was almost expecting him to be a horrible boss who is a workaholic and make Young-Woo’s life difficult through disrupting her work-life balance, discriminatingly in varied capacities because let’s face it — their nature of work is very very time sensitive, but he turns out to be one of the most inspiring characters of the show. While showing initial resistance to get Young-Woo on his team, he goes on to show immense patience while working with her, supporting her potential and pushing her to do more. He backs her up even when she comes across as awkward in front of clients or the court and ends up doing something otherwise socially inappropriate. He is fully non-judgmental and truly believes in her merit. He has an arc of his own where he grows and advocates for work-life balance. Of course, in all this — it does help that our Young-Woo is bloody brilliant at what she does, has a photographic memory and an exceptionally creative approach to problem-solving that has led her to crack some of the toughest cases that the firm has represented (blue whales are to thank here too!).

Well, I can go on and on and on about the show because it’s basically my best show from 2022! The creators and the entire team have have given us a gem of a show.

Park Eun-Bin who plays Young-Woo has done a fantastic job in bringing her character to life. She’s dealt with the role with much sincerity, kindness, thought and responsibility.

The series is as heartwarming, and as uplifting as it can be — and it’s one show that I tell everyone has made me a better person, and hopefully will move you too.

Oh, and by the way, did I mention it is a K-drama?