Lawyer Group "Korean Bar Association, Stop Disciplinary Procedures Against Lawyers Joined in Lotok"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Practicing lawyers have urged the Korean Bar Association to halt disciplinary procedures against lawyers registered on legal service intermediary platforms.

A group of lawyers opposing the deterioration of advertising regulations and unfair member discipline issued a statement on the 24th expressing this position. They stated, "The Bar Association claims that unlike advertisements on major search platforms such as Naver, Kakao, and Google, advertisements on legal platforms like LawTalk are prohibited," and argued that "the related regulations have been interpreted arbitrarily and discriminatorily." The group criticized, "LawTalk was previously investigated by the prosecution and received a non-prosecution disposition regarding allegations of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act filed by the Bar Association and others," adding, "It was the Bar Association's executive branch's malicious propaganda and misleading actions that caused members to blame each other."

Earlier, in May, the Bar Association amended the 'Regulations on Lawyer Advertising' to prohibit lawyers from entrusting advertising, promotion, or introduction to non-lawyers, and the amendment took effect on the 8th of this month. In response, the Legal Order Violation Supervision Center sent emails on the 11th to 1,440 lawyers registered with LawTalk, inquiring about their registration status and circumstances, initiating an investigation prior to disciplinary action.