By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Foreign law firms will be allowed to provide limited services in Korea beginning 2009 as the legal service opens its doors following the joint free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and the United States.
The Ministry of Justice said Tuesday it would propose legislation of the Law on Foreign Legal Consultants, under which foreign legal professions such as lawyers will be allowed to perform consultative business here regarding laws governing their respective countries.
The law, if established, will also permit foreign law firms to set up foreign legal consultant offices in Korea.
According to the ministry, the first stage of legal market opening will begin when the free trade pact takes effect around 2009. American lawyers will be able to begin consultation according to U.S. law, international law and laws about international pacts involving the U.S., but not Korean law.
Foreign legal consultants do not need to take Korean bar exams, but they should have more than three years of legal experience in countries where they obtained licenses. Foreign law firms that have operated more than five years in their own nations can open offices in Korea.
In the second stage of the opening, which will be carried out around 2010 to 2011, American law firms' Korean offices will be able to cooperate with Korean law firms. The two sides will be allowed to jointly take cases that require both domestic law and American law, and to share earnings.
In the last stage, by 2014, both American and Korean law firms can set up joint companies.
The law will only be applied to the U.S., which was contracted through Korea with regards to the legal service market opening. If Korea agrees on the issue with the European Union in the ongoing FTA negotiations, the law will be expanded to the corresponding nations.