'Public Official Connections' Prohibited... Ministry of Justice Establishes Standards for Lawyer Search Service

[Financial News] The Ministry of Justice announced on the 27th that it has established and published the 'Lawyer Search Service Operation Guidelines' to settle the lawyer search service, which was in a regulatory vacuum.
The guidelines consist of a total of 20 articles. It specifies detailed operational standards according to the basic principles of related laws that lawyers, etc., should not undermine public interest and fair acceptance order.
In the general provisions, it is specified that even if the operator is not a 'lawyer, etc.', it is prohibited to evade the purpose of the Lawyer Act, which is to protect the public interest and fair acceptance order of the lawyer system and the independence of lawyers.
It is generally allowed to search for lawyers based on standardized, objective, and value-neutral information such as the type, number, and class of the qualifying exam or alma mater. However, search conditions that may encourage preferential treatment such as connections with public officials are prohibited.
It is generally allowed to relatively prioritize or prominently display members or paid member lawyers in terms of order or font size. However, it is not allowed to differentiate based on the amount of advertising fees paid among the same paid members, considering the increase in legal costs.
The display of 'consultation fees' necessary for consultations to decide whether to enter into a delegation contract with a lawyer before acceptance is allowed. However, it is prohibited to pre-display the remuneration required for the actual provision of legal services based on a specific delegation contract.
This guideline was prepared as a result of the 'Rotok' incident in the legal service platform.
Previously, the Ministry of Justice's Lawyer Disciplinary Committee accepted the objections filed by lawyers who were disciplined by the Korean Bar Association (KBA) for using Rotok in September 2023 and canceled the disciplinary actions.
At that time, the disciplinary committee saw that the lawyer search service was not illegal as it provided a 'connection platform' for lawyers and consumers, but also found it difficult to impose reasonable regulations with the existing legal system, recommending the Ministry of Justice to establish proper operational standards for the lawyer search service.
The Ministry of Justice, therefore, formed the 5th Special Committee for the Improvement of the Lawyer System, consisting of experts representing the lawyer industry and startup industry, recommended by the court, prosecution, academia, KBA, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and published the comprehensive guideline of the discussion results on this day.
The Ministry of Justice stated, "Legal tech will strive to develop in a direction that establishes the public interest and fair acceptance order of the lawyer system, prevents damage to legal consumers, and contributes to enhancing the public's access to justice." 


kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-kyu Reporter