Korean Legal Market Opening to Begin?
by Brendon Carr
Get distracted for a minute and you can miss some really Earth-shaking news. Yesterday’s Law Times (Korean-language) newspaper reports that the Foreign Legal Consultants Act is about to leave committee and head to the National Assembly for approval or rejection. On July 18 the committee studying the law scheduled a public hearing for August 7 to solicit opinions on the law. Thus the long-awaited legal-market opening appears imminent.
And I said it would never actually happen. My experience here over the last 10 years, where every year the legal market has been said to be opening “in two years”, has made me cynical on this topic. So the Law Times has brought a nice surprise, one which will restructure the legal market to be sure, but which will be of enormous benefit to the nation.
I’ve got an English translation of the Act, but it’s about a year old by now and some details may be different. We are currently comparing the publicly-announced version of the Act to the old English translation. Interested parties should check with us (drop me a line through this site) and we’ll be glad to share an updated English translation with anyone who wants one.
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Just because it leaves committee, does that mean anything? Does that actually indicate that all the behind the scenes horsetrading is finished and everyone is ready to vote ‘yes’? Or is it less indicative, just meaning it will be voted on and could very likely be voted down (most assembly members are lawyers)? You sound optimistic, so your insights into this would be helpful.
Well, yes—I do think this law’s approval by the National Assembly is imminent. It’s been linked so closely to the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) that the lawmakers are liable to pass it as part of “doing their part” to entice the United States Congress to pass KORUS FTA.
Hi Brandon,
Under the new US-FTA and opening of the Korean legal market, I was wondering if you knew what the 3 year home jurisdiction requirement exactly meant. I heard that when the legal market opens up, foreign legal consultants will be allowed to work in Korea only if they have had 3 years work experience in their home jurisdiction. Does this mean that the U.S. attorney who is NY Bar qualified need to have worked in NY for 3 years. Or does it mean he has to have worked on NY law (based transactions) for 3 years, i.e. in Hong Kong) and he can be certified to work in Korea. Please enlighten us. If it is 3 year home jurisdiction (actual presence in the home state), then how will the many foreign legal consultants already in Korea with less than 3 year experience be affected? Please enlighten us Brandon. Thank you.
Kind regards,
Sam