This kdrama surprised me in the best way possible. Unlike most legal kdramas that focus on big dramatic court cases, this one is all about the everyday lives of five young lawyers who work in Seoul's Seocho Legal District. It's like watching real people live their normal lives, and that's exactly what makes it so special.
The Story
This kdrama follows five lawyers who call themselves the "Associate Lawyers Avengers," though in reality they are just friends who eat lunch together every day. The main character is Ahn Joo-hyung, played by Lee Jong-suk. He has been a lawyer for nine years and has become cold and practical about his work. He does not care about helping people anymore. He just wants to finish his cases, get paid, and go home. He is like that coworker who has been at the same company forever and has lost all his excitement about the job.
Then there is Kang Hee-ji, played by Moon Ga-young. She is a second-year lawyer who still believes she can change the world by helping people. She is the opposite of Joo-hyung. She gets emotionally involved in every case and truly cares about her clients. The other three friends are Bae Moon-jung, an eight-year lawyer who is tough but kind, Jo Chang-won, the talkative one who nobody listens to, and Ha Sang-gi, who runs a food blog and often seems to care more about money than justice.
The first big surprise comes when we discover that Joo-hyung and Hee-ji actually met ten years earlier in Hong Kong when they were law students. They had a brief but intense romance. The flashbacks show them wandering the city, eating street food, laughing, and sharing a kiss under the city lights. For Joo-hyung, that was a time when he was still full of warmth and hope. But their love story ended suddenly when Joo-hyung had to return to Korea after his father collapsed from illness and his family was buried in debt. He never told Hee-ji the full truth. Instead, he sent her a vague message saying he could not see her anymore. He left without explaining because he was ashamed and did not want to burden her with his problems. To Hee-ji, it felt like abandonment. She thought he had simply lost interest and the heartbreak pushed her to become even more determined to live with optimism and never let people feel the kind of betrayal she went through.
Now, years later, they are forced to work together while pretending not to know each other. This creates a lot of awkward and funny moments, but it also reopens old wounds that both of them tried to bury.
Throughout the series, we see the lawyers handle different cases. These are not dramatic murder trials or massive corporate scandals. They are regular legal problems that ordinary people face, like assault cases, landlord and tenant disputes, medical malpractice, and divorce. The real focus is not on the technical details of the law but on how these cases affect the lawyers as human beings.
The story also introduces Kim Hyung-min, the wealthy building owner who convinces the small law firms to merge into one bigger firm. At first she comes across as suspicious, but later we learn she always dreamed of being a lawyer. By supporting the firm, she is living out that dream in her own way.
As the episodes progress, the characters' personal lives unfold. Moon-jung is married to a gentle doctor named Ji-seok and she is pregnant. She struggles with the fear of balancing her career with motherhood. Sang-gi is revealed not to be from a wealthy background at all. His mother runs a small restaurant, and he studied on financial aid. He feels ashamed of his past and hides it, but eventually learns to take pride in where he came from. Chang-won, usually talkative and cheerful, is worn down by the emotional burden of visiting a difficult client in prison day after day.
The most emotional storyline comes when Joo-hyung's ex-girlfriend from before Hee-ji, Park Soo-jin, also known as Crystal Park, appears as a client. She wants a divorce from her abusive husband. By cruel coincidence, Joo-hyung is assigned to represent the husband, which puts him in the painful position of fighting against someone he once loved and someone who is clearly the victim. This highlights how the legal system can trap lawyers in situations that go against their personal beliefs. Joo-hyung is devastated by it, and the group quietly rallies around him and Soo-jin to get through the ordeal.
Meanwhile, the romance between Joo-hyung and Hee-ji slowly comes back to life. The nightclub scene, where Joo-hyung is hilariously uncomfortable while helping Hee-ji with a case, shows him beginning to relax and rediscover his old self. Bit by bit, Hee-ji helps him remember the man he was in Hong Kong. Later, when she finally learns the truth about why he disappeared back then, she realizes he never stopped caring. He simply carried too much pain and responsibility to let her in. Their reunion is not built on dramatic gestures but on quiet understanding, forgiveness, and the way they support each other in their daily lives.
By the final episodes, all five characters have grown. Joo-hyung has learned to open his heart again and care about his work and friends. Hee-ji has realized that being a lawyer sometimes means making compromises she never wanted to consider, but she has not lost her compassion. Moon-jung embraces her pregnancy with joy, Sang-gi accepts his background with pride, and Chang-won finds resilience in his work.
The drama ends on a hopeful note. The five friends are working together at their merged firm, still eating their daily meals side by side, and ready to face whatever cases come next as a team.
My Review
What I loved most about "Law and the City" is how real everything feels. These aren't superhero lawyers who save the world - they're regular people doing a difficult job and trying to balance their personal lives with their professional responsibilities. The cases they handle are the kind of legal problems that ordinary people actually face, not dramatic murder trials or huge corporate scandals.
The acting is really natural, especially the group scenes where all five lawyers are eating together. You can tell the actors actually like each other, and their conversations feel like real friends talking, not scripted dialogue. Lee Jong-suk does a great job showing how Joo-hyung slowly changes from cold and robotic to warm and caring. Moon Ga-young perfectly captures that eager, idealistic energy of someone who still believes they can make a difference.
One thing that makes this kdrama special is how much attention it pays to food. Every episode has multiple scenes of the characters eating together, and the food looks absolutely delicious. It might sound silly, but these meal scenes are actually really important because they show how sharing food is how these friends connect with each other. Food is love, and it's how they take care of each other during stressful times.
The romance between the main characters develops slowly and naturally. Instead of falling in love at first sight, they're two people who shared something beautiful in the past and are slowly finding their way back to each other. The flashbacks to their time in Hong Kong are gorgeous and romantic, and they help us understand why both characters have carried feelings for each other all these years.
I also appreciate that the kdrama gives equal attention to all five main characters. Too many dramas focus only on the main couple and ignore everyone else, but here we get to know Moon-jung's marriage, Sang-gi's family background, and Chang-won's struggles with his difficult cases. Everyone feels like a real person with their own story.
The legal cases are interesting without being too complicated. The kdrama does a good job of explaining legal concepts in simple terms that anyone can understand. More importantly, it shows how these cases affect the lawyers emotionally. When Joo-hyung has to represent his ex-girlfriend's abusive husband, we see how painful it is for him to do his job when it conflicts with his personal feelings.
If I had to criticize anything, it would be the slow pacing. This isn't a kdrama with big dramatic moments or shocking plot twists. It's more like spending time with friends and watching them navigate their daily lives. Some people might get bored, but I found it relaxing and comforting.
The kdrama also deals with some serious topics like domestic abuse, poverty, and workplace stress, but it handles them with sensitivity and care. It doesn't sensationalize these issues or use them for cheap drama - instead, it shows how these problems affect real people and how the legal system tries (and sometimes fails) to address them.
If you enjoy slice-of-life stories about friendship, workplace relationships, and slow-burn romance, you'll probably love "Law and the City." It's perfect for viewers who want something calm and heartwarming to watch after a stressful day. The characters feel like people you'd want to be friends with, and their problems and joys feel real and relatable.
However, if you're looking for high-stakes legal drama with courtroom showdowns and shocking revelations, this might not be the kdrama for you. "Law and the City" is more interested in exploring how ordinary people deal with life's challenges.
Overall, I think "Law and the City" is a beautiful, well-crafted drama that offers something different from the usual kdrama formulas. It reminds us that sometimes the most interesting stories are about regular people just trying to do their best in difficult circumstances. The friendship between the five lawyers feels genuine and warm, the romance is sweet and realistic, and the legal cases provide just enough plot to keep things interesting without overwhelming the character development.