Due to the Bar Association's Disciplinary Enforcement... Rotoq Finally Ends Sentence Prediction Service

'Lawyer Platform' Conflict Intensifies
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Seomyeong Gon = The Korean Bar Association began an investigation on the 5th to discipline lawyers using legal service platforms such as 'Rotok' following the enforcement of regulations disciplining such lawyers.
The Bar Association stated, "According to the revised Lawyer's Code of Ethics and regulations on lawyer advertising, starting today, we will begin investigating lawyers registered on online legal platforms and will determine the level of discipline through the disciplinary committee after following the prescribed procedures."
The photo shows a 'Rotok' advertisement installed on a street in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 5th. 2021.8.5
Photo by seephoto@yna.co.kr
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[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] Ro&Company, the operator of the lawyer advertising platform 'Lotok,' announced on the 15th that it will terminate the Lotok sentencing prediction service on the 30th of this month. This comes just 10 months after launching the country's first sentencing prediction service.

The Lotok sentencing prediction service was launched in November last year. It is a service that provides statistical information on sentencing based on big data from court rulings. When users answer questions according to the type of crime, artificial intelligence (AI) presents statistical information on sentencing for that crime. Users can understand the most frequently imposed sentences, sentencing trends, and sentencing distribution. To provide this service, the company legally collected approximately 470,000 first-instance criminal court rulings issued from 2013 to this year to build sentencing statistical data.

The market response was enthusiastic. According to Ro&Company, the cumulative number of uses of the sentencing prediction service exceeded 160,000 last month. Lotok's user satisfaction score was 4.6 out of 5.

The AI technology was also recognized. In February this year, Ro&Company was the only legal tech startup named among Korea's top 10 AI startups selected by the National Information Society Agency (NIA).

The reason Ro&Company is terminating the sentencing prediction service lies with the Korean Bar Association. On May 3rd of this year, the Bar Association revised the 'Regulations on Lawyer Advertising' and began disciplinary investigations against lawyers using legal platforms. According to the company, some parts of the revised advertising regulations by the Bar Association were specifically aimed at the Lotok sentencing prediction service.

The company hinted at the possibility of resuming the service. Kim Bonhwan, CEO of Ro&Company, said, "Due to the Bar Association's excessive regulations, we had no choice but to regretfully decide to terminate the service," adding, "We have filed a constitutional complaint to confirm that the Bar Association's revised advertising regulations are unconstitutional, so we do not consider this a complete (service) termination."

Ahn Kisoon, head of the Legal AI Research Institute who led the development of the Lotok sentencing prediction service, said, "This service is the result of over a year of dedicated efforts by outstanding AI developers and lawyers to improve access to legal information and enhance lawyers' work efficiency," adding, "We feel deeply disappointed that the service is ending at the beta stage due to the Bar Association's forced enforcement of excessive revised advertising regulations."

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