Korean Bar Association "Regrets Police's Non-Prosecution Decision on LawTalk... Hopes Prosecution and Courts Will Reveal the Truth"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Korean Bar Association expressed "regret" over the police decision to dismiss the case against Law&Company, the operator of LawTalk, which was accused of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act.

In a statement released on the 4th, the Bar Association said the police decision "leaves much to be desired overall."

The Bar Association stated regarding the police decision, "Although financial product platforms outwardly claim to be advertising, in substance they constitute brokerage activities and therefore cannot be regarded as mere advertising agencies, which contradicts the orthodox interpretation of financial authorities," adding, "There is a lack of in-depth legal judgment on the ‘Premium Lawyer’ service (recently renamed Active Lawyer), which deceives consumers by introducing lawyers who paid money as if they were highly capable, and on acts of brokering or mediating specific lawyers under the guise of sentence prediction."

It further added, "Law&Company has been promoting in the media that it was cleared of charges by the prosecution in 2015, but at that time, Law&Company did not operate highly illegal services such as sentence prediction, so it is difficult to simply compare that period with the present."

It also revealed that the Lawyer Defense Group plans to file an objection to the police decision, pointing out, "Although the next stage of the dispute is still ahead, Law&Company’s behavior of misleading public opinion as if the police’s first decision concluded all matters is hasty and inappropriate."

The Bar Association said, "In fact, the ‘Naver Expert’ service, which was accused of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act in 2020 but was dismissed by the police in July last year, was sent back to the police last month on the 2nd after the prosecution requested supplementary investigation on the grounds that there was a possibility of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act," and "We strongly urge the prosecution and courts to make a clear legal judgment on the case and to clarify the substance of the LawTalk service."

The Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency dismissed the case on the 31st of last month, deciding not to prosecute Law&Company, the operator of LawTalk, which was accused by the Lawyer Defense Group of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act. The Lawyer Defense Group claimed that LawTalk is a paid case brokerage service prohibited under Article 34 of the Attorney-at-Law Act, but the police did not accept this. The police also dismissed all other charges, including that LawTalk’s AI-based ‘LawTalk Sentence Prediction’ and LawTalk’s branding advertisements violated the Attorney-at-Law Act. The Lawyer Defense Group is known to plan to file an objection to the police decision soon.

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