192 Seoul 'Maeul Beommusa' to Provide Free Consultations at Dong Community Centers Starting June

Starting June, Free Legal Consultation Pilot Program at 153 Seoul District Community Centers
Providing Customized Legal Services to Citizens and Offering Public Service Opportunities to Legal Professionals

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The "Public Notary," which provided free legal counseling services at welfare centers and other locations, will change its name to "Village Notary" starting June this year and will conduct counseling activities at local community centers to offer more citizens the opportunity for consultation, Seoul City announced on the 30th.

The existing "Seoul City Public Notary" has been operating since May 2016 at welfare centers, traditional markets, and other places, but the number of citizens using these facilities was limited, and counseling performance has declined since 2020 due to closures of welfare centers caused by COVID-19.

Accordingly, Seoul City decided in consultation with the Korean Notary Association in January this year to change the counseling locations to local community centers so that more citizens can receive counseling nearby. To unify with the existing "Village Lawyer" system, the name was also changed from "Public Notary" to "Village Notary."

Through a demand survey, 153 neighborhoods in 23 autonomous districts expressed their intention to participate, and the assignment of Village Notaries to these neighborhoods was completed by May. From June this year, the participating local community centers will operate a free legal counseling system for daily life issues once or twice a month. Detailed counseling schedules can be checked from the 31st at Seoul City's Legal Administrative Service legal counseling "Village Notary."

Seoul City plans to establish an online reservation system within the second half of this year, allowing citizens to directly book counseling sessions online. With the introduction of the Village Notary system, citizens will be able to use free legal counseling in specialized daily legal areas handled by notaries, such as real estate registration and auction deposits, family relationship changes like name changes and adoption, bankruptcy and rehabilitation, and non-contentious cases, alongside the existing Village Lawyer system.

Depending on COVID-19 quarantine standards and the situation in each neighborhood, telephone counseling will also be operated alongside face-to-face counseling. If citizen satisfaction is high and demand for counseling increases, Seoul City plans to expand free legal counseling to all local community centers like the Village Lawyer system.

Baek Young-geun, Seoul City's Legal Support Officer, said, "Through this project, we expect to enhance citizens' accessibility to daily legal services, which they usually find difficult, provide legal welfare services to citizens in legal blind spots, and offer opportunities for notaries interested in public service to contribute to society."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.