[Choi Seok-jin's Law & Biz] Law Firm's Blue Ocean Severe Accident Punishment Act
Major domestic law firms have responded quickly by forming dedicated organizations before and after the implementation of the Serious Accident Punishment Act. It is even called the 'blue ocean' of law firms. In some cases, existing industrial accident teams have been expanded, but in many cases, new centers or headquarters have been established. These dedicated organizations mainly consist of attorneys from the courts, prosecutors, police, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Kim & Chang Law Firm operates a serious disaster response group led by the EHS (Environment, Health & Safety) team with about 150 members including the labor detective team, construction team, and human resources and labor team. Regarding the recognition of the Chief Safety Officer (CSO) as the manager of management, which is one of the most hotly contested issues in the interpretation of the Central Criminal Justice Act, there is a case where a CSO, rather than the CEO, was recognized as the manager of management for the first time. Plaza, which operates an industrial safety and serious accident team composed of about 60 experts in the criminal, labor, environment, and construction fields, provides one-stop services from consultation to investigation response and criminal trials, and is representing the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business in constitutional appeal cases. Pacific The Major Disaster Response Headquarters is the first to introduce and operate the 'Comprehensive Situation Room' system, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is subdivided into a field response team composed of about 50 criminal and human resources experts, an investigation response team composed of prosecutors and police officers, and a defense response team composed of court officials. Yulchon, which established the Serious Accident Center in 2021 before the enforcement of the law, obtained the first not guilty verdict regarding the fulfillment of obligations under the Central Criminal Justice Act. It has extensive investigative response and advisory experience in 140 cases, and attorney Kim Kyung-soo, former head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Central Investigation Department, is serving as the head of the general center. In addition to the Serious Disaster Response Center, which consists of about 70 experts in industrial safety, construction, environment, and chemicals, Sejong has formed a 'Severe Disaster Emergency Response Team' with lawyers with experience in the Ministry of Employment and Labor, prosecutors, and police to respond 24 hours a day. We are operating a TF to respond to the Severe Accident Punishment Act, which is comprised of a collaborative system of corporate advisory groups. In the CJ Korea Express case and the Korea Railroad Corporation case, he was acquitted by the prosecution, and in the Nonghyup Networks case, he was confirmed not guilty. In October 2022, when it was in charge of the Doosung Industrial case, the first prosecution case under the Serious Disaster Punishment Act, it applied for a request for unconstitutionality review to the Constitutional Court. In order to respond to the expanded application of the law to workplaces with less than 50 employees, YK expanded its organization in February last year from a single center head system with attorney Jo In-seon to a five-member joint center head system, including representative attorneys Kyu-young Gyu and Kim Do-hyung, former deputy chief prosecutors, and representative attorneys Sang-jin Han and Jin-ho Lee, former deputy chief prosecutors. It is operating. In particular, it is actively utilizing its network of 32 directly managed branch offices across the country to quickly respond to incidents occurring outside of Seoul. In June 2022, Jipyong is expanding and reorganizing the existing industrial safety and serious disaster team into a serious disaster response center with the recruitment of attorney Park Jeong-sik, a former high prosecutor's office with extensive experience in industrial safety investigations, and attorney Yoon Sang-ho, a former chief prosecutor of the Public Security Service. In February of this year, the corporation and its CEO were found not guilty in a serious accident that occurred during the elevator installation work of a shipyard tower crane. Daeryun's Industrial Safety Major Accident Group includes former Chief Judge Shin Min-soo, who had experience in the labor and violent crime department while serving as a judge, former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Cho Young-gon, who had experience advising on the CJ Logistics serious accident case, and former Chief Prosecutor Yoon Seok-ju, who had experience specializing in construction and safety accidents. It is active. In February 2022, Barun expanded and reorganized the existing Serious Accident Punishment Act Response Special Team into the Serious Disaster Response Center. The group includes former Chief Prosecutor Lee Sang-jin, former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Seong-geun, Park Seong-ho, a former chief criminal judge at the Ulsan District Court, where the first court in the country established a special tribunal for industrial (safety) disaster cases, and Park Hyun-joong, a former police officer who served as the first serious accident specialist at the National Investigation Headquarters. A constitutional complaint was filed with the Constitutional Court in October of last year, and is currently being heard by the full court. Representative lawyer Gyu-cheol Lee is the head of the Daeryuk Aju Serious Disaster Response Group. In addition to former prosecutors, including former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Cha Dong-eon, who served as an advisory member of the Seoul Safety Advisory Council of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and former High Prosecutors' Office Chief Oh In-seo, who served as the head of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office's Public Security Department, about 50 people, including lawyer Cho Yong-gi, who was a judge, are active. They defended the mayor of Seongnam, who was booked on charges of violating the Serious Accident Punishment Act (civilian casualty causing death) in the Seongnam City Jeongja Bridge collapse accident, and received a non-indictment. These law firms are paying close attention to the Constitutional Court's decision on this unconstitutionality trial case. As the investigation and response to trials of the cases we are currently representing may change significantly depending on the Constitutional Court's judgment of unconstitutionality, we are monitoring the Constitutional Court's judgment and reviewing other provisions of the Central Wife Act that were not subject to judgment this time. Seokjin Choi, Law & Biz Specialist (csj0404@asiae.co.kr)[View full article]
[Choi Seok-jin's Law & Biz] Law Firm's Blue Ocean Severe Accident Punishment Act (Shortcut)