Brexit to limit the scope of British law firms in Korea

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s legal consultation market is now open to European Union-based law firms, but those based in Britain are now likely to face severe limitations. 

Under the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement, EU law firms are allowed to set up joint ventures with Korean law firms. Without a join venture, however, the EU-base law firms are limited to consultations on EU laws.

But once Britain leaves the EU, law fims base in Britain would not be able to operate joint ventures.  

According to the Ministry of Justice, 26 foreign law firms have obtained licenses to set up offices offering consultations on foreign laws. Of these, five are based in the EU, all of which are UK-based law firms.

As such, the country’s legal consultations market is unlikely to see major changes until March next year when the market is opened to US law firms.

Under Korea’s trade pacts with the EU and the US, the market for legal consultations are to be fully opened after a five-year delay. The five-year period for the pact with EU expired on July 1, and that for the Korea-US pact will run out on March 15, 2017.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)