[Reporter’s Notebook] First Face-to-Face Debate Between Lotok and Lawyer Organizations Today

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The legal service platform 'Lotok' and lawyer organizations, which have been embroiled in intense conflict, will sit down face-to-face for the first time on the 6th to exchange opinions. This will take place at the 'Discussion Forum for Exploring the Future of Lawyer Introduction Platforms and Legal Tech' held by the Seoul Bar Association at the Bar Association Hall in the afternoon.

It is essentially a 'head-to-head debate.' The Seoul Bar Association has consistently maintained a hardline stance, defining legal service platforms like Lotok as illegal services categorized as 'online office manager law firms' prohibited by the Attorney-at-Law Act, and has pushed for disciplinary actions against member lawyers. Lotok has countered by asserting that it is a legal service permitted overseas. Given that this is the first face-to-face meeting and discussion between the two sides, the forum holds significant meaning. It could serve as a good opportunity for mutual understanding, but conversely, it could also reaffirm differences in positions and deepen the conflict.

Attorney Ahn Ki-soon, attending the forum as a panelist, will represent Lotok. The Korea Startup Forum recommended Attorney Ahn in response to the Seoul Bar Association's request for panelist recommendations. Attorney Ahn is the chair of the Legal Tech Legislative Subcommittee of the Korea Startup Forum and also serves as the head of the Legal AI Research Institute and an in-house director at Lotok. He explains why Lotok is not a platform violating the Attorney-at-Law Act by citing various domestic precedents and legal grounds. In opposition, Kim Ki-won, president of the Korea Legal Professionals Association, represents lawyer organizations including the Seoul Bar Association that argue Lotok should be banned. The Korea Legal Professionals Association, formed by young lawyers, is one of the groups that have long opposed Lotok.

If the forum provides more than expected clues, it is clear that the conflict will be resolved quickly. It could end the exhausting debate often dismissed as a 'turf war' among lawyers. The conflict has already entered a new phase. Both the Ministry of Justice and the Fair Trade Commission are siding with Lotok. On the 1st of last month, the Fair Trade Commission concluded that "Lotok's advertisements are not false or exaggerated," and on the 29th of the same month, it ruled that the Bar Association's amendment of lawyer advertising regulations, which allows disciplining Lotok member lawyers, constitutes a violation of the Fair Trade Act. The Constitutional Court is also expected to soon issue a ruling on the constitutional complaint against the Bar Association's 'Regulations on Lawyer Advertising,' which triggered the Lotok conflict.