[Hearing from the CEO of a new law firm] “Armed with AI, we will grow the overseas pie”

Kim Kuk-il and Go Byeong-jun, representative attorneys at Daeryun Law Firm

“Daeryun is expanding its scope and scope with the goal of becoming a global law firm based on AI Legal Tech, based on the judgment that there is little potential for domestic growth as well as overseas expansion using the same methods as existing large law firms.”

On October 1st, Daeryun Law FirmKim Kuk-il(56·24th Judicial Research and Training Institute)·Go Byeongjun(50, 9th bar exam) A new leap forward was announced by appointing a lawyer as the new management representative. The two CEOs expressed their ambition to grow Daeryun into a ‘law firm that leads the overseas legal market beyond the domestic market’ through innovative legal services using AI LegalTech and a global market entry strategy.

In an interview held at Daeryun Law Firm's headquarters in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 13th, CEO Kook-il Kim said, "We will lower the threshold of the legal market by allowing customers to easily access legal information and lawyer information using AI Legal Tech and achieve basic counseling effects without the help of lawyers." He added, "We will strengthen customer-centricity by approaching customers and providing professional legal services uniformly nationwide, not limited to Seoul and the metropolitan area."

Daeryun is developing a real-time customized advisory service based on AI LegalTech through its own development team. The development team is carrying out tasks such as big data analysis of similar cases and precedents, and development of sentencing prediction programs.

CEO Go Byeong-jun explained, "Based on legal consultation and litigation case data, we want to leap forward as the nation's highest-level artificial intelligence legal tech law firm. Daeryun's AI will be used from the legal consultation process through methods such as predicting the results of applying laws to specific cases. It will also be used in a way to maximize the efficiency of lawyers' writing and data research by applying the ChatGPT method."

The following is a Q&A with representative attorneys Kim Kuk-il and Ko Byeong-jun.

- What was the reason behind your decision to expand overseas?
CEO Go Byeong-jun: The Korean legal market itself is small and stagnant. Regulation of the legal tech industry is also a task that must be resolved. Based on the achievements achieved domestically, Daeryun will try more and achieve results through innovative management in the wider market. I think the overseas market is the stage where such an attempt can be made.

CEO Kuk-il Kim: Currently, in the field of international legal disputes and advisory, we are providing legal services in Japan, Korea, and the Asia-Pacific region through cooperation with Japan's Very Best Law Firm. With the belief that citizens of other countries are also our customers, we are strengthening our position in the overseas legal market based on smooth communication with overseas customers, including establishing law firms in New York and Tokyo. We also plan to apply real-time customer-tailored advisory services using AI LegalTech to overseas cases. Daeryun's strategy to strengthen its competitiveness will be to provide more professional and reliable legal strategies to overseas customers.

- How do you think the legal market is changing recently?
CEO Go Byeong-jun: I understand that the size of the Korean legal market is less than 10 trillion won. Although the number of lawyers is increasing, the size of the market is only increasing mathematically and is not growing exponentially. If we continue to regulate and fight over a small piece of the 10 trillion won pie, it is difficult to imagine any outcome other than mutual annihilation. We must focus our efforts on increasing the size of the Korean legal market itself. I believe that policies that can be implemented immediately include easing advertising regulations for lawyers to ensure the public's right to know, boldly removing and supporting the legal tech industry to provide cutting-edge legal services, and pushing for German-style mandatory legal insurance subscription legislation for all citizens.

- What systems are in place to strengthen the collaboration system with each regional office?
CEO Go Byeong-jun: The relationship between Daeryun's headquarters and each regional office is similar to the relationship between Starbucks' headquarters and branches. The headquarters provides each regional office with a unified service manual for the best customer service and provides training. Members of each regional office, from office staff to director, provide legal services equivalent to those of the head office. In this process, the representative communicates by hosting monthly national director meetings via video. All professional groups at the headquarters intervene in branch litigation cases and provide professional support for branch litigation services.

- What is the welfare policy that Daeryun is operating?
CEO Kook-il Kim: Daeryun actively recommends maternity leave and parental leave, while operating flexible work systems, refresh leave, and psychological counseling support programs to improve the quality of life of its members. We are expanding the recruitment of disabled people and women with (interrupted) careers, and establishing a public interest corporation so that members can voluntarily provide legal support and volunteer work for the underprivileged and vulnerable groups and contribute to social welfare.

- Any plans regarding M&A or personnel recruitment to expand Daeryun’s influence?
CEO Kook-il Kim: In addition to lawyers, Daeryun employs a variety of professionals including accountants, tax accountants, patent attorneys, and labor attorneys. We are also hiring foreign lawyers and customs brokers to establish an overseas law firm. This is part of customer-centered management aimed at providing one-stop services to domestic and overseas customers, and the company plans to recruit professional personnel in areas deemed necessary for customers and actively pursue M&As with patent and tax firms, etc.

- How will Daeryun change in the future?
CEO Go Byeong-jun: The driving force behind Daeryun’s rapid growth so far has been two engines: ‘popularization of legal consultation’ and ‘high-end legal services.’ By upgrading this to AI Legal Tech services, we aim to establish ourselves as a leading law firm not only in Korea but also in overseas legal markets such as the United States and Japan.

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