[Interview with Bar Association President Candidate] ① Kim Jung-wook: "Lawyer Market Saturation and Intensified Cutthroat Competition... Will Definitely Pass Legislation to Protect Professional Jurisdiction"

“The Right Person for Legal Integration...
Strengthening Registration to Safeguard the Profession”

Editor's NoteThe Korean Bar Association, representing 36,000 lawyers, will elect a new leader on the 20th. The president of the Bar Association holds the authority to recommend candidates for key legal positions such as Supreme Court Justices, Prosecutor General, Chief of the High-ranking Officials Crime Investigation Office, and Special Prosecutors. The registration and cancellation of lawyers, approval of law firm establishments, and lawyer discipline and supervision will also be reorganized around the new president and executive team. The term of the new Bar Association president will be from February 2025 to February 2028. Asia Economy met with two candidates (Kim Jung-wook and Ahn Byung-hee) who have thrown their hats into the ring for the Bar Association presidency, one of the three pillars of the legal profession, to hear about their motivations for running and the direction the Bar Association should take.

Candidate No. 1 Kim Jung-wook running for the 53rd President of the Korean Bar Association. Kim Jung-wook campaign team

Attorney Kim Jung-wook (45, passed the 2nd Bar Exam) is known as a figure who has sparked a generational change in the legal community. Breaking the barriers of the legal profession dominated by ‘people in their 50s, Seoul National University Law School graduates, and Judicial Research and Training Institute alumni,’ he has taken the lead in association affairs as a ‘mid-40s, non-law major, law school graduate.’ If Kim is elected as the next president of the Bar Association, he will become the first law school graduate to hold the position. He confidently stated, “I am a ‘legal intermediary’ and the ‘right person for integration.’ I can embrace everyone from senior veteran lawyers to newly admitted rookie lawyers.”

In an interview with Asia Economy on the 15th, Kim said, “The Bar Association’s lobbying capabilities must be strengthened. We will organize legislative support lawyer groups in each region to ensure the passage of seven key bills related to the lawyer profession.”

The seven key bills that Kim discovered and successfully proposed while serving as president of the Seoul Bar Association focus on guaranteeing lawyers’ right to defense, expanding the legal market, and protecting the profession. A representative bill is the ‘Attorney-Client Privilege’ (ACP), designed to prevent the prosecution and other investigative agencies from conducting raids on law firms and to guarantee the right to defense. Other bills aimed at expanding the legal market include the discovery system, a three-tier appeal system for objections to Fair Trade Commission decisions, mandatory external audits for reconstruction associations, and amendments to the External Audit Act. Bills introducing aggravated punishment for crimes against lawyers and abolishing VAT on litigation costs aim to protect the survival rights and professional domain of lawyers.

He emphasized, “The legal profession is becoming saturated without securing employment conditions and market environment. What our association members urgently demand are laws protecting the profession. We will strive to find the best way to ensure that the order of case acceptance is not distorted and that the public receives accurate legal assistance.” Kim added, “Within the limits of the budget, we will increase the number of legislative support lawyer groups, appoint heads in each region, provide incentives, and ensure that profession-related bills are passed in the 22nd National Assembly.”

According to the lawyer status announced monthly by the Ministry of Justice, as of December 24 last year, the number of registered lawyers was 36,821, of which 30,525 are practicing lawyers. Since the introduction of law schools, the number of lawyers has been rapidly increasing. He said, “When law schools were launched in 2009, the government announced plans to reduce and completely consolidate similar professions such as judicial scriveners, labor attorneys, and administrative agents into lawyers. To ensure this promise is kept, we will form a permanent consultative body encompassing the Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, and law school councils to coordinate interests.”

Photo of Candidate No. 1 Kim Jung-wook's campaign for the 53rd President election of the Korean Bar Association. Kim Jung-wook campaign

Regarding legal tech and network law firms, he expressed a cautious stance, saying, “Private companies that have no interest in legal ethics start services driven by capital logic, but the damage caused by their irresponsibility inevitably falls on the public.”

On the impeachment crisis of President Yoon Suk-yeol triggered by the ‘December 3 Emergency Martial Law,’ he stated, “The Bar Association must be the last bastion to prevent unconstitutional exercise of power.” However, Kim emphasized, “Politics and judiciary must be clearly separated.” He stressed, “The Bar Association should be recognized by the public as the ultimate guardian of the rule of law and public interest. To have the association’s opinions respected and mediation accepted as legal professionals, the obligation of political neutrality must be firmly established.”

◆He is...

- Graduated from Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Systems Engineering

- Graduated from University of Seoul Law School

- Passed the 2nd Bar Exam

- President of the Korean Legal Professionals Association

- 96th and 97th President of the Seoul Bar Association