Excluding Kim & Chang, the major law firms known as the "big four" (Bae, Kim & Lee; Shin & Kim; Lee & Ko; YulChon) have ushered in an era of 400 billion won in annual revenue. Beyond topline growth, revenue per lawyer (RPL) has also surpassed the 700 million won range. Legal circles said this shows that "law firms' revenue structures themselves have risen a notch."
According to legal sources on the 26th, the RPL of the domestic big four law firms all exceeded the 700 million won range. Recently in the legal market, the trend is shifting away from merely adding headcount to expand scale, and toward placing greater importance on how efficiently revenue is generated through RPL.
Based on the lawyer status data the Ministry of Justice released on the 23rd and National Tax Service value-added taxes filings, last year ▲ Bae, Kim & Lee posted 440.2 billion won in revenue with 596 lawyers ▲ Shin & Kim 436.3 billion won with 603 ▲ Lee & Ko 430.9 billion won with 608 ▲ YulChon 408.0 billion won with 540. In total, the big four recorded 1.7154 trillion won in revenue and 2,347 lawyers. Revenue per lawyer is about 730 million won.
This is about a 6% increase from the 2024 average RPL (about 690 million won). It is interpreted to mean that law firms' revenue structures have become more sophisticated.
By firm, YulChon had the highest RPL last year at 760 million won per lawyer. It was followed by Bae, Kim & Lee (736 million won), Shin & Kim (722 million won), and Lee & Ko (713 million won). While the ranking by revenue was Bae, Kim & Lee; Shin & Kim; Lee & Ko; YulChon, by RPL the order shifts to YulChon; Bae, Kim & Lee; Shin & Kim; Lee & Ko.
Behind the big four's rising RPL are trillion-won mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and a growing share of large corporations' litigation. As corporate restructuring, governance overhauls, and global disputes have increased, the scale and complexity of cases have risen together, naturally boosting revenue generated per lawyer.
The industry sees the larger factor not merely as a bigger legal market, but as cases themselves becoming far more complex. In the past, disputes, regulation, transactions, and criminal issues were handled separately; recently, multiple legal risks often intertwine simultaneously within a single case.
Serious industrial accident cases are representative. When a serious industrial accident occurs at a corporation, the response does not stop at dealing with investigative authorities; administrative sanctions, litigation strategy, and negotiations with bereaved families must proceed at the same time. A single accident expands into a complex matter spanning criminal, administrative, and civil domains.
The same goes for corporations' overseas investments. Beyond simple transaction advice, firms must consider local regulatory responses, foreign exchange controls, and the possibility of future disputes together. This naturally leads to a structure of high value-added, comprehensive advisory work.
This year, as the regulatory environment around corporations changes rapidly, demand for both preemptive advisory work and dispute response is expected to rise simultaneously. In March, the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers (Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act amendment), takes effect, and the first and second sets of Commercial Act amendments will be applied in stages from the second half. The third set of Commercial Act amendments, pending at The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, is also being discussed as likely to be handled soon.
Accordingly, competition among the big four is expected to intensify further. Annual results and rankings can shift at any time depending on who secures more trillion-won M&A and large corporations' litigation. A law firm industry official said, "The structure in which securing expertise directly connects to performance is solidifying," noting, "Ahead of the regular judicial personnel reshuffle in February, competition to recruit key talent, including former judges and prosecutors, has grown fierce."