Supreme Court: "Disciplining Legal Scrivener Staff is a State Affair, Must be Challenged Through Administrative Litigation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court has ruled that the cancellation of approval for the employment of a legal office assistant for disciplinary purposes is an exercise of public authority by a state agency and is subject to administrative litigation, not civil litigation.

The Supreme Court’s Second Division (Presiding Justice Park Sang-ok) overturned the lower court’s ruling that dismissed Mr. A’s civil lawsuit against the District Legal Affairs Association, in which he requested the nullification of the cancellation of approval for his employment as a legal office assistant, and remanded the case to the Busan High Court on the 24th.

The court stated, “The action taken by the affiliated District Legal Affairs Association to ‘refuse approval of employment’ or to ‘cancel approval of employment’ based on the Legal Affairs Rules, after initially granting approval for the employment of a legal office assistant, constitutes an exercise or refusal of public authority by the public institution, the District Legal Affairs Association. Since this disposition caused Mr. A to suffer the disadvantage of no longer being employable at Office C, he should have filed an administrative appeal lawsuit seeking the cancellation or nullification of the cancellation of employment approval, rather than a civil lawsuit against the Legal Affairs Association.”

In October 2013, Mr. A worked at Office B without approval from the Legal Affairs Association and engaged in improper case solicitation. Later, he belatedly received approval for employment from the Busan District Legal Affairs Association and worked at Office C.

The Busan District Legal Affairs Association, upon learning of Mr. A’s past improper case solicitation, held a disciplinary committee in March 2014 and imposed a three-month suspension on him.

Despite this, Mr. A continued to report to work at Office C, prompting the Busan District Legal Affairs Association to convene another disciplinary committee in June 2014 and decide to cancel the approval of his employment as an office assistant. Mr. A opposed this and filed a civil lawsuit.

Both the first and second trials ruled against Mr. A. The court stated, “The cancellation of employment approval falls under civil litigation” and “there are no procedural or substantive defects in the cancellation of employment approval.”

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