Chief Judge Hong Seung-myeon's Final Request: "For Judges, Competence Is Kindness"

Farewell Address for the Panrye Gongbo Study Group Retirement

Hong Seung-myeon (60, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 18), a presiding judge at the Seoul High Court and former senior judicial research officer at the Supreme Court, left a final message before his retirement on the 19th regarding the 'Case Law Bulletin Study Group' he has led for 12 years: "For judges, 'competence is kindness'."

According to a report by the Legal Times, Judge Hong delivered this farewell message to the members of the Case Law Bulletin Study Group on the 13th.

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

In his retirement message, Judge Hong stated, "I resigned as chairman after completing the commentary on the February 1 issue of the Case Law Bulletin," adding, "The greatest joy was the time spent preparing case commentaries twice a month, and I often felt great exhilaration when legal principles I had not known or only vaguely understood became clear and systematized."

He continued, "The study group, which started over ten years ago with four judicial researchers, has now grown into a large organization with about 900 judges, 120 judicial researchers, and 50 professors and lawyers participating," and added, "I believe the study group will further develop under the leadership of the new chairman, Hwang Jin-gu (53, class 24)."

Furthermore, he said, "I hope everyone will continue to study diligently and strive through the study group to fulfill their duties as judges, because for judges, 'competence is kindness.'"

The study group began 12 years ago when Judge Hong started the Case Law Bulletin Study Group with four judicial researchers at the Daegu High Court. As participation steadily increased, it was established as a community within the court in October 2019, expanding membership nationwide among judges. Through word of mouth, professors and lawyers also joined, and the number of members, including judges and judicial researchers, surpassed 1,000 (1,015 as of January 2024).

Since July 2019, the Case Law Bulletin Study Group has compiled study materials and published them annually in book form. Last year, they released a comprehensive edition summarizing commentaries on 903 Supreme Court civil case precedents published over four years in the Case Law Bulletin, as well as a version reorganized by Civil Code articles. A 'Table of Contents by Topic for Civil Case Commentaries' was also added.

Additionally, the materials have been published as a total of three e-books. The e-book 《Civil Case Law Bulletin Commentaries (4 years, by article)》 is available for free download on Kyobo Bookstore and Aladin. Many law school students and lawyers download it for free to aid their legal studies.

Park Su-yeon, Legal Times Reporter

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.

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