Author
Prof Woo-Young Rhee
Organisation/Institution
Seoul National University, School of Law
Country
SOUTH KOREA
Panel
Constitutional and Admin Law
Title
Right to Assistance of Counsel for Access to Equal and Sustainable Justice in Globalized and Integrated World
Abstract
The continuing expansion of cross-border exchanges, together with increasing judicial cooperation and the development of international legal standards, has heightened the significance of the right to assistance of counsel as a precondition for the timely and effective protection of rights in a globalized and integrated context. In such a context, the involvement of legal professionals in asserting and defending one’s rights is indispensable both for finding substantive truth and protecting human rights. Legal assistance, accordingly, should be provided in a timely, adequate, and accessible manner in order to secure fair and sustainable justice. In the Republic of Korea, constrained judicial resources have meant that efforts to expand the right to assistance of counsel have largely been focused on public mechanisms, including the government-appointed counsel and public defender system. However, in light of accelerating internationalization and regional integration, there is a growing need for institutional and legislative measures that ensure increased and equal access to legal assistance by fostering a more diverse and specialized private legal aid, complemented by public defense mechanisms. To this end, on the basis of inter-regional cooperation and joint initiatives, the expansion of private legal aid should be accompanied by the development of clear frameworks and standards governing: the organization, powers, and responsibilities of operating entities; criteria and procedures for selecting legal aid cases and allocating workloads; qualification standards for attorneys; legal remedies available to clients; and rules to prevent conflict of interests. In addition, the scope of essential services, remuneration schemes, performance evaluation criteria and training methods must be systematically articulated. It is also necessary to prepare concrete measures for securing a sufficient number of attorneys in line with regional demand, clarifying the relationship between private and public legal aid, and establishing procedures for the transition of state-appointed counsel into privately retained counsel through legal aid. In particular, issues relating to conflicts of interest, independence and fairness that arise in the course of expanding public legal aid may yield productive implications for the development of a more effective private legal aid regime. Securing adequate and stable financial resources is likewise imperative, given their direct impact on the quality of legal assistance delivered through legal aid systems. In view of the growing importance of regional cooperation in Asia and the increasing demographic diversification of South Korean society, sustainable justice can be advanced by jointly expanding both private and public legal aid frameworks so that the right to assistance of counsel is substantively guaranteed with increased and equal accessibility in both domestic and transnational settings. Drawing on South Korea’s experience, this research examines domestic and international institutional and legislative options for realizing sustainable justice by expanding the right to assistance of counsel, grounded in cross-border regional cooperation and professional expertise, in an increasingly internationalized legal order. On this basis, it proposes directions for achieving sustainable justice through regionally coordinated efforts founded on legal knowledge and shared normative commitments.
Biography
Professor Woo-Young Rhee is a professor of public law at Seoul National University School of Law in Seoul, Korea. Professor Rhee teaches classes for both graduate and undergraduate students and conducts research at Seoul National University School of Law, primarily in the area of constitutional law; Subjects of research interest include the representation and public election system, legislative process and statutory interpretation, constitutional adjudication system, and freedom of expression law. After studying law in Korea and in the U.S. (LL.B., Seoul National University; LL.M., Harvard Law School; J.S.D., Stanford Law School), she practiced law in the State of California in the United States, as an attorney-at-law, until she joined the faculty of Seoul National University School of Law and started teaching in 2004. Professor Rhee taught as a visiting professor a winter term course at Harvard Law School in January 2015. Professor Rhee has served advisory and reform committees for the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, the National Office of Investigation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Legislation, the Korean Bar Association, etc.
