ABSTRACT

Korea amended the Foreign Legal Consultant Act in 2016 to fulfil its free trade agreement commitments to Phase 3 legal services market liberalization. This Phase 3 liberalization allowed foreign law firms to form Joint Venture Law Firms with Korean law firms and practice in certain areas of local laws by employing Korean-licensed lawyers. However, free trade agreement contracting parties heavily criticized the terms and conditions of Joint Venture Law Firms and argued that these would discourage foreign law firms from entering joint ventures, thus significantly undermining the effect of Phase 3 liberalization. Indeed, the Joint Venture Law Firm provisions have not been used, even after five years since Phase 3 liberalization. With this backdrop, this article examines: (1) Korea’s history and past struggles to implement the Foreign Legal Consultant Act; (2) Criticisms of the Act and their legal validity; and (3) The costs and benefits of policy options for Korea’s future legal services market liberalization. This analysis provides a foundation for discussing future regulatory reforms of the Foreign Legal Consultant Act.

摘要

韩国于 2016 年修订了《外国法律顾问法》，以履行其自由贸易协定对第三阶段法律服务市场自由化的承诺。第 3 阶段的自由化允许外国律师事务所与韩国律师事务所组建合资律师事务所，并通过雇用韩国执业律师在当地法律的某些领域执业。然而，自由贸易协定缔约方严厉批评了合资律师事务所的条款和条件，并认为这会阻碍外国律师事务所进入合资企业，从而大大削弱了第三阶段自由化的效果。事实上，即使在第三阶段自由化五年之后，合资律师事务所的规定也没有被使用过。在此背景下，本文探讨：(1) 韩国实施《外国法律顾问法》的历史和过去的斗争；（二）对该法案及其法律效力的批评；(3) 韩国未来法律服务市场自由化政策选择的成本和收益。该分析为讨论《外国法律顾问法》未来的监管改革奠定了基础。