Lawyers Corporation – Association Establishment Allowed

A state council meeting was held on December 2, presided by President Roh Moo-hyun, to resolve the Attorneys-at-Law Act which enables the establishment of the Lawyers Corporation and the Lawyers Association.

According to the draft amendment, the Lawyers Corporation, in the form of a limited company, should have a body constituted of 10 lawyers, including three lawyers with 10 or more years of experience, and 20 or more non-investing lawyers.

The Lawyers Association should have more than 10 members, including three lawyers with more than 10 years of experience in law.

This amendment will ban law firms and associated law offices from exercising its notarization rights, and all notary business will be solely handled by the notary public appointed by the government.

The Lawyers Corporations and the Lawyers Association differ from the law firms which are under infinite solidarity from expenses, in that only the lawyer in charge of the case and his/her direct supervising lawyer are held responsible.

On the other hand, at the state council meeting, the Ministry of Finance and Economy announced that “though the economy is entering the recovering stage in the last quarter (October- December), business sentiment will continue to dampen due to the faltering domestic demand,” and reported, “Time is needed for capitalization and employment to expand and consuming rate to increase.“

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said, “Currently, foreign investment is estimated to be $5.9 billion and is expected to reach $6.3 billion by the end of the year.”

The Ministry of Science & Technology reported that it will “raise the ratio for the basic studies research funding of the national research and development budget of 5.6 trillion won from 19 percent (2002) to 25 percent by year 2007.

Jong-Hoon Lee taylor55@donga.com