Law and the City- Episodes 9-10
Stolen Recipes, Stubborn Bullies & One Major Wake-Up Call
Episode 9 of Law and the City blends legal curveballs with emotional gut-punches, and the stakes keep climbing.
We open on a not-so-peaceful morning with Mun-jeong and Ji-seok. Her swollen feet are the least of her worries, what really throws off her day is the looming, awkward talk about maternity leave. Spoiler: there’s no solid plan, and it’s clearly weighing on her.
At work, Sang-gi gets a wholesome moment when the interns gift him a fancy pen for being their go-to mentor. Meanwhile, Mun-jeong vents to the group about her lack of maternity leave, and Hee-ji decides to ask her own boss, Kang Jeong-yun, about it. The answer? “We’re a small firm, it’s complicated.” Not exactly reassuring.
Mun-jeong's next case? A spicy one... literally. A tteokbokki restaurant owner hires her to go after a former employee, Oh Jeong-wuk, who stole her secret sauce recipe and opened a near-identical copycat restaurant. Everything from the name to the interiors is ripped off. But there’s a problem: recipe theft is notoriously hard to win in court.
At trial, Mun-jeong attempts to frame the sauce as a trade secret, showing the kitchen’s lock system as proof. It’s a good try, but the defense counters with her client’s own patent application, which makes the recipe public. Ouch.
Meanwhile, trouble stirs again with everyone’s favorite walking red flag, Lee Dong-su. Hyung-min catches wind that he’s pulling shady moves on a barbecue shop owner, under the guise of “investment.” She finds out he’s been raking in interest payments for years, regardless of profit. Ju-hyeong reviews the contract and confirms, it’s actually a loan, and Dong-su is violating interest limitation laws.
Back to Mun-jeong’s tteokbokki case: Ju-hyeong points out that it’s not just about the sauce, the whole brand has been copied. Mun-jeong tracks down the original store’s interior designer and finds the smoking gun: Jeong-wuk sent photos of the original, asking for the exact same look. Boom. That turns the tide.
Sang-gi, meanwhile, is considering a new path: a doctorate in law. He talks it over with Hee-ji, then meets his old professor, who warns that part-time study probably won’t lead to a teaching job. Then, he visits his mom, who’s feeling unwell but insists she’s fine. (We all know where this is heading.)
Back at home, Ji-seok surprises Mun-jeong with new shoes to help with her swelling feet. It's a sweet moment. She opens up, admitting she’s not ready to take maternity leave just yet, she genuinely enjoys working, especially going to trial.
Hyung-min finally confronts Dong-su head-on. She lays down the facts: what he’s doing is illegal, and if he keeps pushing people around, she’ll keep stepping in. Dong-su looks rattled... for once.
Meanwhile, Hyung-min hands Seong Yu-deok a new case involving a violent student incident. A flashback reveals the shocking scene: a student named Mun Chan-yeong is attacked with a knife but ends up stabbing his bully instead.
Chang-won takes the case and considers pleading guilty to secure a lighter sentence. But Ju-hyeong challenges that this looks like clear self-defense. Still haunted by his last case (and its harsh verdict), Chang-won isn’t so sure. He visits Chan-yeong, who says he doesn't regret his actions and refuses to fake remorse for the court.
Chang-won is clearly questioning everything. His father tells him to quit law and come work for the family. And just when he’s contemplating that exit, Hyung-min finds him lost in thought and reminds him why people like them became lawyers in the first place: to help people, whether directly or indirectly.
In the end, Chang-won prepares to defend Chan-yeong in court, perhaps for the last time.
And then, just as the credits are about to roll, Mun-jeong wakes up in the middle of the night, clutching her stomach in pain. This isn’t just pregnancy discomfort. It’s something more serious.
Conflicted Cases, Corporate Greed & Small Wins That Still Sting
Episode 10 of Law and the City dives deep into moral gray zones, emotional burnout, and the legal system’s frustrating limits and somehow still finds time for a few much-needed moments of camaraderie.
We start with Chang-won, who’s stuck in a moral tug-of-war. He’s defending Mun Chan-yeong, a student who fought back against his bully in self-defense, but now he’s been handed a new case: defending another student, this time the bully. He pushes back, but Yu-deok reminds him that being a lawyer doesn’t come with a pick-and-choose policy. Begrudgingly, he continues preparing Chan-yeong’s case, submitting a strong self-defense argument.
Meanwhile, Mun-jeong ends up in the hospital with serious stomach pain. The doctor tells Ji-seok it’s likely due to uterine expansion; not an emergency yet, but she should avoid being alone and stay cautious. Back at work, she notices a hiring ad for a new lawyer on a colleague’s computer. Her partner Na Kyung-min brushes it off as "just in case," but she calls it out: she’s still capable, and she’s not stepping back.
At Hyungmin Law Firm, the partners get into a shouting match over corporate tax structure. Things get worse when Seong Yu-deok and Kang Jung-yun discover, awkwardly in court, that they’re representing opposing sides of the same case. The judge is unimpressed and boots both of them, leaving the clients furious and lawyerless. Later, Hee-ji tells the group the fallout was brutal: both clients fired the firm.
Chang-won, already stretched thin, now has to defend the school bully. The internal conflict is eating at him, but he powers through while prepping Chan-yeong’s case. Elsewhere, Hyung-min proposes a corporate tax solution that the managing partners grudgingly accept, though not without some groaning. She reminds them that they signed up for the merger, not her.
Later, Mun-jeong meets a lawyer friend who balances motherhood and an in-house counsel position. The takeaway? In-house work might be a better fit long-term. Food for thought.
Chan-yeong’s trial kicks off, and despite the heavy topic, the outcome surprises everyone: even the prosecutorrecommends probation. It’s a small miracle and a testament to Chang-won’s careful prep. The court agrees. Chan-yeong walks out with probation and no jail time. It’s a real win, and it hits Chang-won hard, in a good way. He celebrates with Sang-gi and casually checks out a prosecutor job posting. Interesting…
On Hee-ji’s side, a new case arrives with complicated emotional baggage. Two sisters want to renounce their estranged father’s inheritance, he passed away recently, leaving behind mountains of debt and a young son from a second marriage. Hee-ji tells them they can walk away, but the debt would still fall on the boy. She’s clearly concerned.
Meanwhile, Ju-hyeong meets a new client, Shin Ji-hye. Her husband Tae-hyun worked at Deus GA, an insurance company with unethical work practices, employees who didn’t hit quotas were forced to buy policies themselves. Tae-hyun eventually died by suicide. Ji-hye wants to sue. Ju-hyeong starts prepping, until Na Kyung-min interrupts and shuts it down. The firm is now representing Deus GA instead, for a higher fee. Ju-hyeong is furious, but Kyung-min won’t budge.
Hee-ji tries to bring the young boy into his sisters’ inheritance case to protect him, but Jung-yun brushes her off as too emotionally involved. That night, Hee-ji and Ju-hyeong debrief together, both worn down by the moral compromises they’ve had to make. They offer each other a little comfort, a reminder that they’re not alone.
Despite being pulled off the case, Ju-hyeong visits Deus GA’s office and discovers the managers are coaching employees to lie about Tae-hyun’s mental health. At the hearing, Ju-hyeong makes a sharp, technically correct argument, for the wrong side. He wins. But it feels hollow.
On a better note, Hee-ji proposes an “inheritance with reservation” process to the sisters; longer, messier, but it will clear the boy’s name of debt. They agree. A win that feels like a win.
Later that night, Ju-hyeong gets a desperate call from an employee at Deus GA, Kim Jun-hyeok, trying to hit his quota. The entire team is still being punished if one person fails. Ju-hyeong buys a policy out of pity. He wins the case, but it’s the kind of win that leaves a bad taste. He tells Kyung-min as much.
Hee-ji updates Jung-yun on the sisters’ case, but Jung-yun isn’t thrilled. Logic over heart seems to be her motto.
Law and the City Episode 10 ends on a quieter note. The five lawyers meet for dinner. Tired, frustrated, but still standing and still there for each other.
DramaZen's Opinion
Spicy Lawsuits, Moral Whiplash, and a Win That Feels Like a Loss
Episodes 9 and 10 were stacked. We got everything from a tteokbokki sauce war to one of the most frustrating moral dilemmas Ju-hyeong’s had to face. Mun-jeong fighting for trade secrets and navigating pregnancy? Power move. And Chang-won? Absolutely crushed the school bullying case, then immediately got slapped with defending the bully. This show does not let up.
Ju-hyeong winning a case for the bad guys while visibly hating it? Brutal. And that inheritance case with the little brother nearly wrecked me. But through all the office politics, courtroom chaos, and moral messiness, the gang still shows up for each other.
Two episodes of emotional sucker punches and I still want more. This drama owns me.
