'Bar association to break corrupt ties'

Ha Chang-woo

By Lee Kyung-min

The new head of the Korean Bar Association (KBA) has pledged to root out corruption between judges and lawyers who have served as judges or prosecutors in the past.

Ha Chang-woo was elected as the 48th president of the KBA, Monday, and now represents 15,545 lawyers nationwide. He will take the helm of the association starting Feb. 23 for a two-year term.

He is the second head to be elected through an all-members direct vote since the association adopted the system in 2012.

Until then, an internal committee had named the head of the association. All of the heads had previously been either former judges or former prosecutors.

Ha had criticized such practice, which he said contributed to lawyers’ corrupt ties with judges and prosecutors.

“Many of them bring cases to their law firms by taking advantage of their personal connections established while in the prosecution or courts. This is wrong,” he said, adding that such practices would no longer be tolerated.

“The practice has drawn criticism from the public, as well as lawyers within the association. The association will try to prevent such cases.”

Ha also vowed to urge the government to maintain the state-administered bar exam system, which is scheduled to end in 2017. After this, those wishing to practice law will have to enter law schools, where tuition can reach almost 100 million won ($98,000) a year.

“My parents were poor famers. Under the law school system, people like me, who come from a humble background, would never dream of becoming a lawyer.”

When leading the Seoul Bar Association in 2007–09, Ha introduced a system where lawyers assessed judges. This drew a backlash from judges, but support from the public, as he tried to tackle the “high-handedness” of judges.

“I plan to implement a similar assessment system, this time for prosecutors,” he said.

His plan is based on internal complaints from lawyers who claim prosecutors block communication with their defendants, ultimately infringing on their legal rights to counsel.

Ha graduated from Kyungnam High School in South Gyeongasang Province and majored in law at Seoul National University.