Assembly panel OKs revision bill on opening legal market

National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lee Sang-min of the main opposition Minjoo Party, hits the gavel to approve a revision bill that allows Korean law firms to set up joint entities with their foreign counterparts, Monday. The bill includes a controversial clause that bans the foreign partner firms from owning more than 49 percent of stake in the joint firms. Foreign envoys, including U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert, recently asked the Assembly to remove the “unfair” clause to no avail. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly approved a revision bill aimed at opening up the nation’s legal market, Monday.

However, it kept a controversial clause that prohibits foreign law firms from owning more than 49 percent of joint-venture law firms with Korean partners, despite protests from four foreign envoys, including U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert.

If the bill is passed through a plenary session, it is scheduled to take effect in July with the European Union and in March 2017 with the United States.

According to the revision bill, foreign firms must establish joint ventures only with Korean entities that have been in operation for more than three years and hire five or more lawyers with less than five years of experience under their belts, along with the 49 percent ceiling.

Last month, Lippert, representing four countries that also included Australia and Britain, met with Rep. Lee Sang-min, chief of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to deliver a statement in protest of the bill, calling on the National Assembly to amend it.

However, the committee said that it had approved the revision bill intact because the Ministry of Justice had collected opinions from relevant ministries and embassies and fully disclosed them to lawmakers.

Following the envoy’s protests, local lawyers’ groups criticized their action, calling it a violation of Korea’s sovereignty. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said later that there was no problem with the protest action.