The global legal tech market is on the rise... Korea is ‘standing still’ [Daeryun’s Biz law forum]

AI Basic Law, a challenge of the times for the legal profession
Analysis of precedents and legal consultation… Accelerate your use of AI
Hampered by regulation of the Bar Association... Plenty of commercialization tasks

In December last year, the National Assembly passed a bill to enact the ‘Basic Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Creation of a Trust Foundation, etc.’ (hereinafter referred to as the AI ​​Basic Act). The AI ​​Framework Act aims to establish a basic plan to strengthen national technological competitiveness, as well as foster the AI ​​industry and establish various regulatory systems. The purpose is to protect the rights and dignity of the people and secure a leading position in the global AI market through the sound development of AI and the creation of a foundation of trust. As technology continues to develop, AI is being used in many areas of our daily lives, including work and leisure. Accordingly, discussions on securing AI competitiveness and development direction have continued in each field.

In the AI ​​era, the legal profession is also showing great interest in AI. Legal AI shows its true value when used properly. First, searching for complex legal information and precedents becomes simpler. This is because AI technology analyzes tens of thousands of precedents and vast amounts of legal data appropriate for each situation and provides a summary of information that may be helpful to users. Simple legal consultation is also available. This means that consumers will be able to access more accurate legal information more easily.

The so-called 'legaltech' market, which combines legal services and cutting-edge technology, is already growing rapidly in overseas countries. In the United States, which early adopted AI technology, more than half of law firms have adopted AI and are taking the lead in improving technology. In line with this trend, many law firms in Korea are actively introducing legal AI, but are unable to overcome the threshold for commercialization due to disciplinary action from the Korean Bar Association (Bar Association) or various regulations.

According to Article 1 of the Attorney Act (Mission of Lawyers), lawyers must make it their mission to defend human rights and realize social justice. It can be seen as an anachronistic idea to consider only the personal interests of lawyers while ignoring the background of the exclusive authority such as legal affairs and representation rights.

If legal AI is successfully established in the domestic legal market, the work processing ability of lawyers who professionally use it and the processing speed per unit time will also be able to improve dramatically. In addition, language barriers and foreign law application issues, which have been considered obstacles in the process of entering the overseas legal market for Korean law firms, can be easily resolved. People's access to the law will improve, and at the same time, more demand for law will be created.

With the advent of legal AI, the domestic legal market has reached a new paradigm turning point. The advancement of legal AI services is no longer an unavoidable process and is seen as an opportunity that can bring great benefits to both service users and lawyers.

Now is the time for everyone to work together to ensure that domestic legal AI service technology and systems are completed at the world's best level. This is not simply a matter of choice based on individual ideology, but can be seen as a new task of the times that goes beyond the existing framework.

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The global legal tech market is on the rise... Korea is ‘standing still’ [Daeryun’s Biz law forum] (Shortcut)