[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s legal consultation market is now fully open to European law firms, with the third stage of related clauses of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement taking effect on July 1.
As such, European law firms are now able to set up joint ventures with Korean law firms. A JV law firm can hire Korean lawyers and provide consultations on Korean law.
Lawyers offices in southern Seoul. The Investor (Park Hyun-koo)
In anticipation of the changes, the National Assembly passed the revised Foreign Legal Consultant Act in February, but included a number of limiting clauses.
According to the revised act, a JV can only be established by the headquarters of Korean and foreign law firms. In addition foreign law firms’ stake in a Korea-based joint venture is limited to 49 percent.
By Choi He-suk (
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
