Kim Young-hoon, President of the Bar Association, "If competition with private platforms is unavoidable, we will confront it head-on"

Kim Young-hoon, president of the Korean Bar Association (hereinafter KBA), stated on the 5th regarding private legal platforms, "We have recognized the current trend that private platforms cannot be completely banned," adding, "If competition is unavoidable, we must confront it head-on, which is why we have prepared a public platform."

President Kim made these remarks during a press conference held at the KBA headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, where he explained the public legal platform 'Naui Byeonhosa' (My Lawyer), which the KBA has developed and operates independently.

However, he expressed the position that if excessive case acceptance by specific lawyers on private platforms reaches a level suspicious of algorithm manipulation, regulations will continue.

On the 5th, Kim Young-hoon, President of the Korean Bar Association, is speaking at a press conference held at the Korean Bar Association Hall in Seocho-dong, Seoul. Photo by the Korean Bar Association

President Kim said, "From the beginning, I fully agreed with the previous administration's policy of completely banning platforms out of concern that if private platforms monopolize the legal market, it could bring great misfortune to the public. However, I also recognized the current trend that such a complete ban cannot last forever."

He continued, "Therefore, if competition is unavoidable, we should not be afraid but face it directly. With this mindset, we have been preparing for competition by developing the public platform 'Naui Byeonhosa'."

He added, "This policy change was not forced upon us, nor was it a false election pledge," and said, "I still firmly believe that private platforms are not suitable for the legal market."

He further explained, "However, since we are a democratic and capitalist country, forcibly maintaining that dam is impossible, and sluice gates are necessary. From the start, I thought the ban should be maintained but preparations should be made in advance, which is why I took the lead in creating 'Naui Byeonhosa.'"

President Kim also said, "If the public platform, which operates without profit, works well, private platforms may become unnecessary."

Meanwhile, when asked about the possibility of additional disciplinary actions against lawyers registered on private platforms, President Kim responded, "That was indeed a concern. As I mentioned earlier, among the 123 disciplined lawyers, I argued that those with over 1,000 cases should maintain their disciplinary status, but the disciplinary actions were collectively canceled. Therefore, it seems difficult to selectively process the remaining cases based on previous reasons."

However, he added, "In cases where unfair operations continue, separate disciplinary actions are necessary," and "It would be inappropriate to view this on the same level as before."

President Kim said, "We need to be careful with terminology here; it is not about additional or repeated disciplinary actions but about necessary regulations based on new standards," and "I believe this will be agreed upon not only by our members but also by society."

He continued, "Even if allowed, operations must be appropriate," and "Suspicious situations like that should not be created. I think you can understand it in that context."

At the end of his response, President Kim smiled and said, "If you tell us not to do that, the KBA might have to close down."

Meanwhile, during the press conference that continued into the afternoon, discussions were held on various topics including ▲ advanced guidance on 'Naui Byeonhosa' and responses to legal platforms ▲ improvement plans for public defender fees ▲ overseas expansion of the KBA and young lawyers as well as export of 'Naui Byeonhosa' ▲ recommendations for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials ▲ exploration of integrated professional discussions in 2024 ▲ progress on ACP (Attorney-Client Privilege) legislation and strengthening of National Assembly liaison activities.

At the beginning of the conference, President Kim expressed his hope to "have candid and comfortable discussions on various topics," and provided honest answers to the flood of questions from reporters.

He cited the greatest strength of the recently enhanced 'Naui Byeonhosa' as reliability. Since the operating body is the KBA, a statutory organization that requires all lawyers to join mandatorily, he expressed confidence that it holds an overwhelming advantage over private platforms in terms of both quantity and quality of lawyers.

He also pointed out that uploading information such as lawyers' career details to 'Naui Byeonhosa' requires submitting supporting documents and obtaining approval from local bar associations, which helps prevent exaggerated or false advertising in advance?a distinguishing feature from private platforms.

President Kim stated that efforts are underway to make the unrealistic public defender fees more realistic.

Public defender fees, set at 450,000 KRW per case in 2007, remained unchanged for 15 years until a 50,000 KRW increase this year. For 2024, the fee per case is planned to be raised to 600,000 KRW, and a budget of 12.7 billion KRW was allocated to provide an additional 1 million KRW monthly to dedicated public defenders for cost compensation. However, it is reported that the Ministry of Strategy and Finance cut 12.1 billion KRW, leaving only 500 to 600 million KRW.

Nevertheless, President Kim personally took the lead in persuading lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, and all committee members agreed on the need to update the stagnant public defender fees. The increased budget is now under review by the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.

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