法務 서비스 市場 開放의 課題 - 主要國의 開放經驗을 土臺로 한 戰略 樹立에 관하여 -

Abstract

It is time to open up legal service market. Korea is one of the few countries still closed to foreign lawyers. The pressure to internationalize its legal service market is mounting. Foreign law firms, especially U.K. firms, and business men in Korea have argued that legal service market is to be opened up to the full at the first stage. After reviewing experiences of other countries, such as Germany, France, and Singapore, I reached a conclusion that a gradual open-door policy is better than a rapid open-door policy. By opening up Korea's legal service market, we can expect that it will facilitate Korea's foreign trade and business as well as develop legal profession. It is our goal, which can be attained by permitting foreign law firms to open representative offices in Korea and foreign lawyers without a Korean bar license to consult on international or foreign problems and to act for Korean companies on their law or international law. What is worrisome is the high possibility of the decline in Korean lawyer's judicial independence after opening up legal service market. Considering the turbulences in legal profession shown in other countries after allowing foreign law firms to form alliances or foreign lawyers to hire domestic lawyers, we need some time to examine how much legal profession will be affected after the first stage of opening up legal services.