Formation of Law Firm Evaluation Committee with External Members
Survey of 588 Legal Officers from 30 Major Groups and 5 Financial Holding Companies
Kim & Chang Named Best Law Firm, Top Law Firm Failing to Meet Expectations
Attorney Sangmin Kim of Bae, Kim & Lee Selected as 'Best Lawyer'
In a law firm service survey conducted among 588 legal officers from Korea's top 30 conglomerates and five major financial holding companies, Kim & Chang Law Firm received the highest score (4.54) for 'competence and expertise,' being selected as the best law firm. On the other hand, Kim & Chang received the lowest score (3.12) for 'appropriateness of fees' and was also ranked first in the law firms that failed to meet expectations, with 28.4% of all respondents naming it.
On April 25, Law Times (CEO Lee Su-hyung) released the results of a law firm service survey and subjective evaluations conducted among 588 legal officers from 117 companies affiliated with the top 30 conglomerates such as Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, and the five major financial holding companies including Shinhan, Woori, Hana, and NongHyup, in celebration of Law Day.
This survey was divided into competency evaluations across 14 categories including ▲competence and expertise ▲performance satisfaction ▲willingness to reappoint ▲appropriateness of fees, and work evaluations across 11 fields including ▲finance and securities ▲mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ▲serious accidents. Additionally, respondents were asked to name the best law firms (lawyers) and those that failed to meet expectations along with reasons in subjective responses. To ensure fairness based on the number of responses (sample size), the six law firms with over 100 respondents (Kim & Chang, Bae, Kim & Lee, Lee & Ko, Shin & Kim, and HwaWoo) were grouped as Group 1, and the remaining firms as Group 2 for comparison.
In the survey asking for the best law firm, Kim & Chang was followed by Bae, Kim & Lee, Lee & Ko, Shin & Kim, and HwaWoo ranking 2nd to 5th respectively, while the firms that failed to meet expectations were Lee & Ko, Shin & Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee, and Shin & Kim following Kim & Chang. The ranking for 'competence and expertise' was Kim & Chang, Shin & Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee, Lee & Ko, Shin & Kim in that order.
In the 'performance satisfaction' survey, Shin & Kim (4.35), Bae, Kim & Lee (4.31), and Kim & Chang (4.29) scored highest, while in the 'willingness to reappoint and recommend' category, Shin & Kim (4.41), Bae, Kim & Lee (4.37), and Lee & Ko (4.20) received high scores.
In Group 2, Law Firm Lin received the highest scores in 13 out of 14 competency evaluation categories, Law Firm Hwahaeon was highly rated in international arbitration and international trade fields, and Law Firm Changcheon received good evaluations in the 'teamwork' category. These three firms were selected as 'hidden champion' law firms in this survey. Additionally, Law Firm Dongin ranked first in the 'actual involvement of the responsible partner' category, and LKB & Partners was recognized for being "strong in litigation."
By field, corporate satisfaction was highest for law firm services in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and serious accident areas, while dissatisfaction was highest in the 'information technology and broadcasting & telecommunications (IT & TMT)' field.
In the individual best lawyer evaluation, Attorney Kim Sang-min of Bae, Kim & Lee (age 45, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 37) received the most votes (10 votes) from legal officers of the top 10 conglomerates including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, and LG Electronics, followed by Attorney Oh Tae-hwan of HwaWoo with 6 votes. Lawyers who failed to meet expectations included 6 from Kim & Chang, 5 each from Bae, Kim & Lee and Lee & Ko, 4 from HwaWoo, and 2 each from Bae, Kim & Lee and Shin & Kim. The most common reason for dissatisfaction was cited as 'insincerity and careless attitude.'
Law Times formed a task force (TF) for law firm evaluation in July last year. The TF, led by Lee Jae-myung, Vice President of Law Times and CEO of Legal Assist, created the survey after three months of internal discussions and research. In November last year, a law firm evaluation committee was formed with former Sogang University Law School Dean Wang Sang-han as chairman to ensure objectivity and expertise through external experts.
Subsequently, a dedicated survey webpage for law firm evaluation was developed over two months, and the survey was conducted over three months from January to March this year. To prevent contamination of responses due to leaked survey links, separate links were created for each corporate legal team, and the number of responses was limited according to the pre-identified number of legal team members.
Chairman Wang said, "Although there have been evaluations of Korean law firms before, it is hard to say that these reflected consumers' opinions. This Law Times law firm evaluation can be boldly called Korea's first law firm consumer report as it contains results diagnosed from the consumer's perspective and standpoint."
He added, "I especially appreciate Law Times' efforts to ensure fairness and hope this will be an opportunity for legal service providers to listen to consumers' voices and strive to improve service quality."
Law Times published the '2024 Korea Law Firm Consumer Report' on the 30th, summarizing the results of this survey. It plans to conduct law firm service evaluations annually and publish the 'Law Firm Consumer Report' going forward.
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
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