General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

May It Please the Court (변론을 시작하겠습니다)

May It Please the Court (변론을 시작하겠습니다; literal title "Start Defense") is a 2022 South Korean legal mystery drama series that aired on Disney+ from September 21 to October 26, 2022, in 12 episodes. It stars Jung Ryeo-won as Noh Chak-hee, a top corporate lawyer who is abruptly reassigned to a public defender's office, and Lee Kyu-hyung as the eccentric public defender Jwa Si-baek, with whom she becomes entangled in a serial murder case targeting wealthy elderly men.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	변론을 시작하겠습니다 (Byeonloneul Shijakhagekseubmida); English title May It Please the Court, literal title Start Defense¹
Network and run	Disney+ original; 12 episodes, September 21 to October 26, 2022¹
Director and writers	Directed by Kang Min-gu; written by Kim Dan, based on the novel by Jung Hye-jin¹^•³
Production companies	Arc Media and Slingshot Studios; filmed January 22 to June 15, 2022⁴
Lead cast	Jung Ryeo-won (Noh Chak-hee), Lee Kyu-hyung (Jwa Si-baek), Jung Jin-young (Jang Ki-do), Kim Hye-eun (Oh Ha-ran)¹^•⁵
Genre and rating	Legal, mystery, thriller; rated 15+ in Korea and TV-14 in the United States²^•⁶
Reception	IMDb rating 7.3/10 (715 votes); episodes run about 64 minutes⁷^•⁸

Spoilers

Premise

Noh Chak-hee is the ace attorney of the large law firm Jangsan, with the firm's highest winning rate, and is willing to take risks to win a case. She is set to be promoted to partner, but a problem arises on a case she accepted: on the day of the promotion announcement she is urgently arrested on suspicion related to a teacher's suicide, and instead of suspension she is sent to work as a public defender in Jeongha, hoping to return to Jangsan.¹^•⁹

There she shares an office with Jwa Si-baek, a public defender who graduated at the top of the Judicial Research and Training Institute and turned down careers as a judge, prosecutor, or big-firm attorney to do public defense work; he is enthusiastic about his job and has a mysterious side to his personal life. The two do not get along, but a serial murder case whose victims are wealthy elderly people draws them together, and the story reaches back to a very old case whose hidden truth the series gradually uncovers.¹^•²

Cast and characters

Jung Ryeo-won, previously known for Witch at Court, plays Noh Chak-hee, a feared and tenacious lawyer who dresses impeccably while carrying a raw, straightforward inner character. Lee Kyu-hyung, known for Prison Playbook and All of Us Are Dead, plays Jwa Si-baek, an unassuming but driven public defender. The supporting cast includes Jung Jin-young as Jangsan's representative Jang Ki-do, Kim Hye-eun as Oh Ha-ran, Jeon Mu-song, Kim Sang-ho, Park So-jin, and Ko Kyu-pil.¹¹^•¹^•⁶

In interviews at the September 2022 press conference, both leads said they were about 30 percent like their characters, and Jung Ryeo-won described the series as fast-paced and unpredictable, with the suspect changing from episode to episode so that viewers who miss one or two episodes lose track of the story.¹¹

Production and adaptation

The series is based on the novel Byeonloneul Shijakhagekseubmida by Jung Hye-jin, published December 6, 2019 by Miraeuichang, and was adapted for television by writer Kim Dan.¹ It was produced by Arc Media and Slingshot Studios, with filming running from January 22 to June 15, 2022, under director Kang Min-gu.⁴ It was one of Disney+'s Korean original drama lineup for 2022, alongside titles such as Kiss Sixth Sense, Connect, and Casino.¹⁰

Themes and reception

Unlike lighter legal K-dramas such as Extraordinary Attorney Woo, the series takes a darker turn, dealing with ambition, politics, and a web of intertwined cases, and reviewers noted its case-of-the-week structure built around a larger theme of justice and class.¹¹^•³ Critics highlighted the character arc of Noh Chak-hee, who loses multiple cases as a public defender; the series uses those losses to show the injustice of the justice system toward the marginalized and to teach a character who had never experienced failure how to move past it.³ A review in The Star noted that, compared with existing lighter K-legal dramas, the series stood out for its themes of murder, mystery, greed, and justice.¹²

The series holds a 7.3/10 rating on IMDb from 715 votes and received one award nomination.⁷ It ran as a single season and is listed as ended.⁵

Distribution

The series streams on Disney+ in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, and in the United States it is available on Hulu, including a version dubbed in English alongside the Korean original.¹³^•¹⁴ Disney+ notes that some flashing light sequences may affect photosensitive viewers.²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026