II. INTRODUCTION
The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea (South Korea)
announced on March 3, 2009 that the Korean National Assembly passed a
bill authorizing a partial opening of the domestic legal services market.1
The purpose of the Korean FLC Act is to establish prerequisitesto qualify,
register, and work as a Foreign Legal Consultant (“FLC”) in South
Korea.2
A registered FLC is a practicing attorney in good standing in a
foreign country who has a current and valid FLC Certificate of
Registration as required by the Korean Bar Association.3
The FLC Act
authorizes a person who is not a member of the Korean Bar or licensed in
Korea as an attorney to provide legal advice in Korea limited to the law of
the foreign country in which the attorney is licensed to practice law.
Because the FLC system in South Korea has not yet commenced,
it is difficult to calculate the number of foreign lawyers working in South
Korea. One New York state lawyer in Korea estimates that over 400
foreign attorneys work in South Korea, the majority of them being U.S.
attorneys.4
These attorneys are called ByeonHoSa [“attorney”] in Korea,
but their legal practice is unlike registered native Korean attorneys. For
example, foreign lawyers are prohibited from signing their work product
even though the work product is directly connected to their own home
jurisdiction. Prior to the registered FLC system, the work product signed
by foreign attorneys for legal purposes constituted an unauthorized
practice of law.
5
Once the FLC act takes effect,
6
article 109 of the Korean
Attorney-at-Law Act, prohibiting foreign attorneys from an unauthorized
practice of law,such as providing legal service in Korea, will no longer be
valid