Legal services market

Legal services market in Korea is getting gradually open to foreign lawyers as more and more Free Trade Agreements (FTA) enter into force.

Key words
opening of Korean market, legal services market, foreign legal consultant

Korea-EU FTA
The Ministry of Justice plans to conduct Foreign Legal Consultant qualification approval process without delay in preparation for the full-fledged opening of Korean legal services market including the pending advancement of UK law firms into Korean legal services market as the Korea-EU FTA became effective.

Phase 1 Opening
The lawyers of EU States are allowed to: provide legal advisory service with respect to "the law of the home country of license, agreements of which the home country of license is a party, and to universally approved customary international law" etc.; and establish EU States law firm's Korea representative office (Foreign Legal Consultant Office).

Korea-ASEAN FTA
The Ministry of Justice agreed to open Korean legal services market to the second stage within two years after the Korea-ASEAN FTA comes into force.

Phase 2 Opening

 * It allows representative offices of the foreign law firms in Korea, "Foreign Legal Consultant Office" to conclude specific cooperative agreement with Korean law firms.
 * It allows partial partnership and profit sharing between the Korean law firms and Foreign Legal Consultant Offices in order to provide advanced legal services to Korean customers.

Revision of Foreign Legal Consultant Act
From September 2009, foreign lawyers may register in Korea as Foreign Legal Consultants, and foreign law firms are permitted to establish and operate representative offices.

The Ministry of Justice is also on the process of revision to institutionalize the second stage of Korean legal services market liberalization.