Fair Society and Lawyer’s Business Scope

(Electronics Daily Newspaper on May 17, 2022)

                                                                 Myung Shin Kim

Adviser, the Korean Patent Attorneys Association

It took 233 years after the adoption of the U. S. Constitution for the first black woman, Ms. Ketanji Jackson Brown, to be appointed Justice on the U.S. Court. Crying with emotion, Judge Brown quoted the poem "The Hope and Dream of the Slave" by Ms. Maya Angelou, a black American female poet.

The systems of all certified specialists have been developed to ensure specialization and diversification. I again reflect on the lawyer's business scope, which I have pondered for many years.

Article 1 of the Attorneys at Law Act announces that a lawyer's mission is to defend fundamental human rights and realize social justice, and lawyers shall perform their duties faithfully by following their mission and endeavor to maintain social order and improve the legal system.

For 115 years now, since the establishment of the Seoul Attorneys at Law Association in 1907, people have respected lawyers as for social leaders, and nobody denies the social contribution of lawyers. However, the lawyers' businesses have developed in various ways, especially with the passing of each year. Moreover, the number of certified specialists, such as Tax Accountants, Judicial Scriveners, Patent Attorneys, Certified Real Estate Agents, and Certified Labor Consultants has increased every year.

As of December 31, 2021, the number of each certified specialist is as follows:

Tax Accountants are 14,057. Judicial Scriveners are 7,128. Patent Attorneys are 4,235. Certified Real Estate Agents are 118,049.and Certified Labor Consultants are 3,108, whereas Attorneys at Law are 26,408.

These days, all certified specialists have studied and developed their specialties according to the needs of the people.

Nonetheless, today Attorneys at Law obtain the qualifications of the certified specialists mentioned above automatically or perform the businesses of other certified specialists legally with only the capability of Attorneys at Law without any procedure or specialized training.

Moreover, recently the Constitutional Court ruled that even if a law firm handled a trademark application, a unique Patent Attorney's business, it is not a violation of the constitution. Now, what is social justice? What is a real fair society? Who is a certified specialist in a fair society?

I passed the examination for Patent Attorney with another person in 1969 and received practical training at the Patent Bureau for one year, and I had to pass the practical test. The Examination question was to write the specification on a kettle's spout as a patent claim. I could not write the specification well because my major was the Commercial Act, and I did not know fluid mechanics. Therefore, I was disqualified from the practical test together with another examinee who had no technical background. Thus, we needed to receive practical training for more than one year. I have had many troubles when handling patent application cases because I obtained the qualification for Patent Attorney during a transition period without having any engineering knowledge. When filing patent applications, inevitably, a Patent Attorney having a technical background would have to take care of those cases.

Part of Attorneys at Law is challenging to manage their offices, unlike before, because the number of Attorneys at Law has increased too much. Nonetheless, Attorneys at Law have filed patent applications for even specific technology fields that they do not understand. This is done only for the Attorneys at Law's benefits based on automatically imposed qualifications. Not only can these Attorneys at Law not protect their clients' interests, but this is against social justice, fair society, and the mission stated in Attorneys at Law Act. These circumstances are similar to those of other certified specialists.

If Attorneys at Law continue to obsess about this legalism, we cannot develop or maintain other certified specialists' systems. Finally, the current way will eventually destroy the base of other certified specialists' systems. Further, it will violate Article 22, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution that "the laws concerned will protect the right of an inventor."

Therefore, to maintain Attorneys at Law as respected social leaders while performing social justice, Attorneys at Law must carry on only their traditional businesses, excluding the businesses of other specialists. Further, they should not take on patent application cases because they do not understand technologies. To talk about a fair society orally and to realize a fair society, people are watching whether Attorneys at Law would have the will to make the necessary changes.