The antitrust watchdog in South Korea proposes fining the Korean Bar Association for upsetting fair competition through sanction on app-based legal service platform LawTalk, clashing with the lawyers’ association which accuses the state authority of overstretching its power to the judiciary realm.

LawTalk, operated by Law & Company, is a legal consultation app that allows users to get legal advice in an easy, fast and affordable way. Amid huge popularity of the app that drew many lawyers onboard, the bar association revised its rules enabling penalizing actions on lawyers who join online service.

Law & Company filed a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), claiming that the association has violated the fair trade law with staging a joint action as a business association to intrude in fair competition.

The bar association has been arguing that it is not a business association that can be sanctioned by the FTC.

But the antitrust watchdog finds the association as a business group as it collects membership fees and makes it mandatory for lawyers to register their law firm. The FTC on Monday notified the association of its finding and will soon convene a full session to deliberate its final punitive action.

The association immediately released a statement, accusing the FTC of overstretching its authority and undermining lawyers’ autonomy guaranteed by the constitution to strengthen credibility and responsibility of lawyers’ works that serve public interests.

It said it is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice which has allowed it to determine its own disciplinary action, so the FTC cannot restrict its activities.

It would be up to the Constitutional Court to decide whether the traditional lawyers’ move against online competition is constitutionally valid.

By Song Gwang-sup, Park Yoon-ye and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]