There are only a few great Korean criminal defense lawyers serving expats in Korea due to the nature of the Korean criminal justice system, ongoing conflicts, and other legal realities. In Korea, in all cases, where you are accused of a Korean crime and you fear that you may be sentenced to time in a Korean jail, may be deported from Korea or the Korean conviction may harm your future – hire, quickly, an experienced and proactive attorney in Korea with experience in Korean criminal law prior to any interrogations by the Korean police or prosecution. For more information on Korean Criminal Law, please see: IPG Legal’s Korean Criminal Law Archive.
If you are indicted for a crime in Korea, it is often best to have a retired senior Korean court judge on your team of lawyers.

Top Korean Defense Lawyers in Korea

As I mentioned in a post entitled Criminal Defense Lawyers in Korea: Who to Hire – Who Not to Hire:

“Sadly, few lawyers, in Korea, are useful for criminal matters, since few lawyers are proactive when it comes to matters concerning the Korean government, experienced in criminal matters for foreigners or willing to upset the status quo (aggressively engage the prosecutor)”

Here are a few signs that you may have hired a good Korean Defense attorney.

  • Your lawyer is operating based on a success/contingency fee (bonus for not going to jail). If your Korean lawyer is not operating based on a contingency/success fee, he may not be motivated to win the case (Update: Law has changed in Korea since this post was first posted. Korea banned success fees in criminal matters).
  • Your Korean lawyer doesn’t work for one of the ubiquitous firms working for foreign clients. Some of these firms are more concerned with their reputation than yours. Many are notoriously bad in criminal cases.
  • Your Korean lawyer is between the ages of 40 and 60. If the lawyer is too young (Early 30s) or too old (70s). The lawyer will likely not have the experience necessary to handle the matter or will simply not be handling the matter.
  • You talk directly with your Korean lawyer whenever you meet. If your lawyer in Korea is directing you consistently to talk with a less experienced lawyer, run. The less experienced lawyer is likely only doing the work, and the more experienced lawyer is simply a rainmaker.
  • Your Korean lawyer has great English language skills. Without someone fluent in English, you run the risk of never getting your side of the story heard.
  • Your Korean lawyer has many non-Korean clients. Handling criminal matters for foreigners is vastly different than handling a typical criminal matter for a Korean. Often, deals can be obtained with the Korean prosecutor in non-violent crimes for foreigners that are unavailable to Koreans. Also, violent and public crimes often need to be handled with a degree of media and cultural savvy, since judges and prosecutors are heavily affected when the victim is a Korean, and the perpetrator of the crime is a foreigner.
  • Your lawyer in Korea contacts you often, meets you in jail often, and leads the conversation. A lawyer who never speaks, never contacts you, and never visits you is, typically, not a proactive lawyer. Criminal cases are best handled with strategy and a proactive counsel willing to engage Korean police investigators, prosecutors, and judges. If your Korean criminal defense lawyer won’t speak to you, he won’t be speaking to anyone else and will likely simply go through the process, receive a guilty verdict, and the typical sentence.
  • Your lawyer speaks, but also listens when you talk. Too often, lawyers ignore clients. Great defense lawyers in Korea develop great defenses by listening and responding to clients. If you have a lawyer who is not listening, he will likely just go through the process, receive a guilty verdict, and the typical sentence.
  • Your lawyer in Korea seems busy, but not overwhelmed. If he or she seems too busy, the lawyer probably is too busy. Criminal cases often need a great deal of time. If the lawyer is not able to spend the time to talk with you, you may never be able to get the attorney to provide the time necessary to handle the matter.

Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only a few non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw,  IPG Legal is consistently ranked a Top Dispute Resolution Law Firm for our litigation, arbitration, and mediation services, and IPG Legal is consistently rated a top-tier law firm in corporate law, litigation, arbitration, franchise law, distribution law, estate law, family law, employment & labor law, and criminal defense.

Sean’s profile may be found at Sean C. Hayes. To schedule a call with Sean Hayes, please click: Schedule a Call with Sean Hayes.