변호사의 이익충돌회피의무

Abstract

In this paper I have reviewed and tried to find better solutions of the subject of ‘the conflict of interests’, which is regulated by the Attorney-at Law Act and the Attorney’s Ethics Code. The several points I have reviewed are conflicting interests of the opposing parties, conflicting interests of the clients of the same party, the ethics of a lawyer who is a retired public official, mediator or arbitrator, prohibition of transfer of the legal right in dispute from a client. Conflict of interests of the opposing parties can be divided into two categories; one is the representation of both parties in the same case, and the other is the representation of the opposing party in a different case. All these rules of restriction of case acceptances are applied to law firms, limited liability law firm or law firm partnership, joint law offices in which two or more lawyers accept or handle cases or conduct the duties of lawyers jointly (hereinafter referred to as “law firm, etc.”). According to the Attorney-at Law Act and the Attorney’s Ethics Code, any attorney-at-law should not accept a case brought by the opposing party, for which the lawyer has been consulted by the other party of the case and which the lawyer has already accepted. A lawyer is not allowed to accept a case brought by the opposing party of another case which the lawyer has already accepted, unless the client of the already accepted case has given his or her consent to it. A lawyer also should not accept a case which the lawyer handled or has come to handle in his or her capacity as a public official, mediator or arbitrator. In the application of the provisions of the restriction of case acceptances, a law firm, etc. shall be considered as one lawyer. Unacceptable cases include cases where a lawyer who retired from a public office is designated as a lawyer in charge of a law firm, etc. The unacceptable cases of a law firm, etc., also include cases where a lawyer who retired from a public office receives attorney fees by actually getting involved in the acceptance or performance of cases even though he/she is not indicated as a responsible lawyers in charge of the deeds of case acceptance contract, litigation documents, attorney’s statement of opinion, etc. In addition to that, a lawyer should avoid conflict of interests of his or her clients of a same party, whom he or she represent simultaneously and respectively in a case accepted and handled by himself or herself. A lawyer should not take over the legal right which is the dispute object of the case accepted and handled by him or her. This is not allowed even when such right is assigned to the lawyer as a payment for his or her legal service by his or her client.