South Korea going to open its legal service market in phases from September 2009

South Korea is planning to open its legal services market in phases from September, with the full-fledged opening scheduled for 2016.Domestic law firms face fiercer competition from foreign law firms that are superior to domestic players in manpower, experience and international connections. Lawyer Kim Byoung-jai, who represents one of the Korea's leading law firms, Lee & Ko, shrugs it off. ``No matter who will come, we are ready to beat them all,'' Kim said in an interview with a Korean News Paper. ``We have prepared for the expected upheaval for years so that we will not face any problem even if other countries law firms make entry into the Korean market in the coming days.'' His confidence is justified because the firm never fallen behind foreign competitors overall. Lee & Ko has shown exceptional performances in four major branches of law practice: corporate management; banking, financing and securities; litigation and international arbitration; and intellectual property. It employs more than 800 staffers including 246 lawyers, 56 patent attorneys, and dozens of experts in the fields of labor, tax, and customs. ``I believe only those competitive in the four segments as a whole will survive in the future,'' he said. ``Unsuccessful firms will either be degenerated into boutique law firms or merged by a competitor.'' A boutique law firm is a collection of attorneys typically organized in a limited liability partnership or professional corporation specializing in a niche area of law practice. ``We are ready to provide the best, tailor-made solutions, no matter what our client's problems are,'' Kim said. ``I believe only those competitive in the four segments as a whole will survive in the future,'' he said. ``Unsuccessful firms will either be degenerated into boutique law firms or merged by a competitor.'' For instance, in the late 1990s when the Korea saw its foreign exchange reserve dry up, one of the pre-conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for emergency aid funds was the sale of a leading domestic bank to overseas investors. At that time, the government had neither sufficient knowledge nor experience in pushing ahead with such a big deal. It looked for a reliable Korean law firm and Lee & Ko was designated to handle the M& A deal.``A cautious approach was necessary in proceeding with the deal since it was one of the key agendas deciding the Korea's destiny,'' he recalled. Since then, Lee & Ko has played a key role in handling a slew of large-scale M& A deals involving Hanwha, LG and other major conglomerates there. A series of tough experiences in the past paid off in recent years, he said. The Legal 500, a renowned international legal journal, chose Lee & Ko in the 2008/2009 edition as one of the leading law firms in South Korea in the 13 areas of legal practice including M& A, banking and finance, and intellectual property. With internationally acknowledged capacity, the firm is working on widening its business scope to central Asian countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia as well as Vietnam, India and the Philippines.

Master of Intellectual Property Law Programme by IGNOU

IGNOU, have started Master Programme in Intellectual Property Law(MIPL). This is a new specialist Master degree in Intellectual Property Law which has been developed by IGNOU in collaboration with leading Australian universities - Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Now there is good opportunity for working peoples to join a master programme in IPL. In future we require lot of qualified peoples in the area of IPR. The step taken by IGNOU is appreciated.