Gov’t Plans Corrupt Lawyer Crackdown

Ex-judges and ex-prosecutors implicated in scandals have had no problems so far opening law offices unless they were caught before they applied for registration. In the near future, however, they might face trouble.

The Korean Bar Association (President Cheon Gi-heung) is coming up with a new plan to nullify registrations of attorneys-at-law whose dishonest behaviors during their previous tenure as a judge or prosecutor have been revealed belatedly. Up to the present, even when scandals were exposed, there have been no restrictions on their operation as a lawyer until they got their sentences during the first trial after prosecution.

Opening a law office is no longer a safety zone-

On the 28th of last month, the executive council of the association decided to remit the case of two lawyers to the committee for registration screening in order to discuss the cancellation of their registration. These lawyers were previously chief public prosecutors who were recently indicted without detention for corruption. These lawyers, named Park Hong-soo (48, former chief public prosecutor in Suwon District) and Song Gwan-ho (44, former chief public prosecutor in Seoul Western District) were charged for accepting bribes from a carpet importer, Kim Hong-soo (58, imprisoned).

The bar association will hold a meeting of the committee for registration screenings on the 20th of this month. If five or more of the nine committee members vote for cancellation, their registration will be revoked. Unlike the business suspension order issued by the Ministry of Justice, the committee’s decision takes effect immediately even before the final sentence of the court is announced.

Corrupt lawyers: nowhere to retreat?-

It has been a routine practice for judges and prosecutors to resign from posts and establish themselves as lawyers once corrupt behaviors were uncovered. In case their resignation was accepted, they had no restrictions opening a law office since they took off their status as a governmental official before being punished. This practice has been pointed out as an obstacle to the self-cleansing efforts of the bench and bar.

Taking the absurdity of this practice into consideration, the court of justice and the prosecutors’ office decided to reject resignations in such cases and carry on the punishment procedures. This can impose restrictions on the malefactors who were planning to open law offices.

If an incumbent lawyer is involved in a corruption scandal, it has been both possible to punish him or her with the rules of the bar association or the business suspension order issued by the MOJ. As for the former judges or prosecutors, however, as far as they were successful concealing their scandal until opening an office, there has been no valid rule to penalize them.

Controversy inside the Bar Association-

In attempt to plug this loophole, the bar association decided to cancel the registration of those applicable by applying a clause of the Attorney-at-Law Act. Article Eight (Clause 1-4) of the Act reads that, “A registration application of a governmental official who was prosecuted or punished (except by a dismissal or release order) can be rejected.” This clause is being applied to Article 18 of the same act which stipulates the conditions to invalidate a lawyer’s registration.

Inside the association, there are pros of this application who claim that it is an active interpretation of law that can contribute to the cleansing of the judicial circle and cons who are worried that it could be an excessively broad interpretation. A member of the committee for registration screening said, “As we are well aware that this decision can be a new precedent, we will try to reach our decision prudently.”

verso@donga.com