"Legal Tech to Enhance Consumer Benefits... Active Investment in US Startup Sector"

Seminar on "Legal Tech's Legal and Policy Challenges" on the 21st
"Legal Tech, Consumer Rights Protection... Public Interest Function"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] At a legaltech seminar, voices were raised that the path to introducing advanced technology into legal services must be opened to simultaneously enhance the benefits for both consumers and providers.

Ro & Company, the operator of the non-face-to-face legal consultation platform 'Lotoc', announced on the 22nd that discussions were held for the development of domestic legaltech at the '2nd Legaltech Legal and Policy Issues' seminar.

Held for the second time following November last year, this event was organized to discuss the present and future of legaltech, which signifies the convergence of legal services and advanced technology. Notably, the seminar was attended not only by academia, industry, and government officials but also by consumer representatives, who voiced various opinions for improving the legal services market.

The seminar began with an opening address by Professor Lee Sung-yeop of Korea University's Graduate School of Technology Management, followed by presentations from academic experts and a comprehensive discussion involving panelists representing various sectors.

Professor Lee Byung-jun of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Law School, who presented on the topic 'Challenges of Legaltech and Consumer Law,' stated, "Although legaltech is developing globally, South Korea is still in its early stages. Applying the Attorney Act, which governs lawyers, to the legaltech industry may lead to excessive regulation," and suggested, "Rather than hastily regulating, it is necessary to open opportunities for innovation through regulatory sandboxes."

Professor Jeong Shin-dong of Gangneung-Wonju National University cited Germany as an example in his presentation on 'Legal Platforms and Collective Damage Relief.' He said, "Germany has implemented rapid legal amendments to prevent unfair discriminatory treatment of lawyers and to foster the legaltech industry," adding, "Most consumer disputes in South Korea tend to be resolved in the public sector, but assigning roles to legaltech companies could create room for macro policy discussions in the public sector."

Professor Jeong Hye-ryeon of the Korean National Police University, who presented on 'Legaltech and Consumer Welfare' focusing on successful unicorn cases in the United States, introduced the latest trends in the U.S. legaltech industry, noting that the number of legaltech companies in the U.S. increased from about 1,100 in 2016 to 1,887 in 2020. She explained, "With the full-scale introduction of AI and big data technologies into legal services, the number of legaltech companies surged," and added, "Legaltech is one of the most actively invested fields in the U.S. startup sector."

Passionate discussions among experts from various fields also followed. Kim Ji-won, Director of the Digital New Industry System Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Although there are characteristic differences among legaltech subfields, each reduces consumers' information search costs and helps protect consumer rights through reviews, thereby increasing consumer benefits."

Ahn Ki-soon, Director at Ro & Company, also emphasized consumer rights protection, stating, "Information about lawyers is provided through service reviews, which also function to prevent consumer damage." He added, "In the areas of precedent search and legal work solutions, legaltech greatly helps lawyers' work efficiency, so legaltech benefits not only consumers but also lawyers."

Professor Lee Sung-yeop stated, "Until now, changes have been delayed under the pretext of consumer protection centered on vested interests, which in reality has resulted in neglecting consumer benefits," and expressed the view that "Legaltech must develop faster because it performs a public interest function that provides more benefits to vulnerable groups who need lawyers."

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