The Constitutional Court has ruled that a regulation that punishes lawyers for joining online legal service platforms is unconstitutional.
In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the court ruled against the Korean Bar Association’s regulation concerning lawyers’ advertisements.
The association revised the regulation and the lawyers’ code of conduct in May last year to ban lawyers from joining online legal platforms, allowing the body to punish those who act as a paid broker between lawyers and clients.
Law&Company, the operator of mobile legal counseling app LawTalk, and 60 lawyers filed a joint petition against the regulation with the Constitutional Court, arguing that the revision violates lawyers’ freedom of expression and occupation.
Separately, the Korean Bar Association took legal action against LawTalk in three seperate cases claiming that the App violated the Attorney-at-Law Act, but the prosecution decided not to indict any of them.
Source: KBS World Radio