독일과 일본에서의 MDP 논의

MDP (Multi-Disciplinary Practice) means combination of lawyer and other qualified professionals. The background of debate on MDP is the necessity of providing comprehensive legal service for people and consumers. Article 34 of the current Attorneys-at-Law Act prohibits association of lawyer with other non-lawyer professionals, and dose not basically permit partnership between lawyer and other qualified professionals. In Germany, Article 59 a Paragraph 1 (1) of the Attorneys-at-Law Act provides for that a lawyer, to the extent of his (her) professional rights, may open a joint legal office (Sozietät) in partnership with other lawyers (members of lawyers’ association), patent attorneys (members of patent attorneys’ association), licensed tax accountants, tax agents, certified public accountants, sworn auditors and so on. Besides, other various organizations such as common office (Bürogemeinschaft), partnership company (Partnergesellschaft), lawyers limited company (Rechtsanwalts-GmbH), etc. are allowed in Germany. In addition, a German judicial precedent acknowledges partnership in the type of lawyers corporation (Rechtsanwalts-AG). In Japan, partnership between lawyers and other qualified professionals is not legally allowed in accordance with the Attorneys-at-Law Act Article 72 (Prohibition of Legal Practice by Non-lawyers) and Article 27 (Prohibition of Alliance with Non-lawyers). In fact, however, many Japanese accounting offices are selecting de-facto MDP system by establishing close partnerships with affiliated legal offices. In Japan, the partnership in which incomes and expenses are shared is basically prohibited, while the partnership between lawyers and other qualified professionals in which only expenses are shared is allowed. Germany approaches the matter of lawyer’s partnership in the manner of limiting its scope to combination with similar qualified professionals, in consideration that independence of lawyer is indispensable for maintaining the functions of legalism. However, it is needed to note that Germany, greatly influenced by the England’s enforcement of the Legal Services Act in 2007, also tried to amend the Attorneys-at-Law Act to introduce the ABS (Alternative Business Service) system in which partnership between lawyers and other qualified professionals is extensively permitted to the extent of not impairing independence of lawyers. In the meantime, Japan stands negative for MDP emphasizing independence and ethics of lawyers. Japan believes that, even without consideration of independence and ethics of employed lawyers under the circumstances in which many lawyers are employed by large accounting firms or private companies, lawyers may come to be unable to play their social roles in the global liberalized age. In Korea, taking the cases of Germany and Japan into consideration, it is proposed that we introduce the MDP system but develop a practical model applicable to our situations. Legislation for partnership between lawyers and other qualified professionals is required to be processed in first consideration of national competitiveness improvement and convenience enhancement.