[Breaking] Constitutional Court: "Advertising Allowed Through Lawyer Advertising Fee Payment"... "Bar Association Rules Violate Freedom of Expression and Occupational Freedom"

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the part of Article 5, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph 1 of the "Regulations on Lawyer Advertising," revised last year by the Korean Bar Association (President Lee Jong-yeop) to restrict lawyers from joining online legal platforms such as 'Lotok,' which states ‘acts of advertising, promoting, or introducing lawyers,’ is unconstitutional.

On the 26th, the Constitutional Court stated regarding the constitutional complaint filed by Lotok operator Law&Company (CEO Kim Bon-hwan) along with 60 lawyers against the lawyer advertising regulation, "While reasonable regulation of lawyer advertising is necessary, considering the fundamental rights nature of advertising expression, it is preferable to broadly allow advertising except for necessary limits in terms of content or method."

It continued, "In light of the purpose of Article 23, Paragraph 1 of the Attorney-at-Law Act, which in principle permits lawyer advertising through various media, it should be allowed for lawyers to pay advertising fees to advertisers across diverse media and advertise, and the regulation that uniformly prohibits such acts is difficult to recognize as an appropriate means."

The Constitutional Court declared, "The prohibition on paid advertising violates the principle of proportionality and infringes upon the petitioners' freedom of expression and freedom of occupation."

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