[Invest&Law] Lawyer Association "Network Law Firms Must Be Regulated"

by Lim Chulyoung

Published 12 Mar.2025 08:00(KST)

Campaign for the Realization of Legal Ethics

The Korean Association of Legal Professionals held a campaign on the afternoon of March 7 in front of the Seoul Central District Court building in Seocho-dong, Seoul, titled “Campaign to Urge Regulation of Network Law Firms for the Realization of Legal Ethics.”

[Invest&Law] Lawyer Association "Network Law Firms Must Be Regulated"

This campaign was organized with the purpose of establishing regulations on lawyer advertisements and the number of branch offices of law firms, aiming to prevent excessive commercialization in the legal market and strengthen legal ethics.

Kim Gi-won (5th Bar Exam) , president of the Korean Association of Legal Professionals, said, “Recently, controversy over ‘network law firms’ has been growing. Network law firms refer to law firms that operate multiple branch offices nationwide and recruit clients through large-scale advertising. Within the legal community, there is a growing call to regulate excessive advertising and limit the establishment of too many branch offices.”

President Kim explained, “Commercial advertising also plays a positive role by attracting more clients to providers and enabling the provision of affordable yet high-quality services through economies of scale. If the operation method of network law firms provides substantial benefits to legal consumers, the lawyer market should also be open to change, similar to the distribution market where convenience stores or large supermarkets have become mainstream.”

He also stated, “The legal profession has characteristics such as clients finding it difficult to objectively evaluate service quality, legal services being hard to provide uniformly, and few repeat customers. Since the positive functions of commercial advertising often do not work properly, excessive advertising poses a significant risk of consumer harm.”