Debate is growing over "high-priced legal opinion letters" written by academics such as university professors in large lawsuits between corporations. Expert opinions are References submitted to help the court understand complex legal theories or foreign cases.
However, questions over fairness have been raised as some large law firms are said to commission opinion letters, paying tens of millions of won per case, from figures who have ties to the bench or wield significant influence in academia. In legal circles, some even call this so-called "deference to mentors."
Because expert opinion letters are used not just as formal reference materials but as documents to persuade the court, some say the circumstances of their preparation and any interests involved should be made more transparent.
◇ Management control disputes with few precedents: growing weight of expert opinions
According to legal sources on the 7th, the role of expert opinion letters grows as major lawsuits intensify. The weight of academic opinions that the court can consult increases in cases where relevant precedents are rare or comparisons to foreign cases are needed.
Recent lawsuits over management control disputes between corporations or hostile mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are representative. For example, when a corporation moves to defend management control through large-scale share buybacks, a key issue can be whether to view this as a legitimate business judgment or as breach of duty that harmed the company. In such cases, both sides submit expert opinion letters explaining the concept of breach of duty, foreign cases, and the business judgment rule to persuade the court.
Thus, the more a case requires understanding of industry practice or lies in an area without clear academic precedents, the more useful expert opinion letters become. From the court's standpoint, materials to consult are needed to organize complex issues.
◇ Seeking judges' mentors and academic authorities: opinion letters also become a battle of connections
The issue lies in how the letters are prepared. Large law firms often look for scholars who can support their client's claims and ask them to write opinion letters. In legal circles, it is said that scholars in their 50s or older who have published many papers, or professors well known in the field, tend to be primary targets for outreach.
Ties to the court are also reportedly considered. There are cases where firms seek out a university mentor who taught the presiding judge or a figure with substantial influence in academia to solicit opinions. Just as former judges-turned-attorneys get involved in cases based on prior working relationships with the bench, some say that opinion letters submitted by a judge's teacher or academic senior can carry significant weight in litigation.
A legal source said, "A legal opinion letter itself is not illegal, but if a professor with a teacher-student relationship with the court received a large sum and issued an opinion favorable to one party, questions about fairness are inevitable," adding, "Even if it is formally reference material, in practice it is often used as a document to persuade the court."
◇ Over 20 million won for an opinion letter of around 10 pages
The expense is also significant. According to legal sources, consulting fees for prominent professors can be set at over 1 million won per hour. It is also known that a single opinion letter of around 10 pages can cost more than 20 million won.
An attorney at a large law firm said, "Not every university professor can be approached; the pool is extremely limited," and added, "Neither the expense nor the length is fixed for each case."
The practice of high-priced opinion letters has already been aired once. During Supreme Court Justice Kwon Young-jun's confirmation hearing in 2023, controversy erupted after it emerged that from 2018 to 2022, while serving as a professor at the Seoul National University School of Law, Kwon wrote 63 opinion letters for large law firms and others and received about 1.8 billion won.
At the hearing, questions continued over whether it was appropriate for a university professor to repeatedly submit opinion letters in large law firm cases and receive large fees. In particular, the extent to which a law professor's opinion letter carries weight in court and whether the consulting fees are appropriate became focal points.
◇ No grounds for sanctions: "Measures needed to reduce doubts about fairness"
For now, there is no clear legal basis to sanction the mere submission of expert opinion letters. They are often submitted as reference briefs to help the court's legal analysis rather than as evidence.
However, legal circles say that rather than banning expert opinion letters, mechanisms are needed to make the circumstances of their preparation and any interests transparent. Since the letters are written at the expense of a specific party, the idea is to disclose, within certain bounds, the size of the fee, the author's interests, and any relationship with the court.
A legal source said, "An expert opinion letter does not immediately present a legal problem," but added, "If it is material the court consults, it should be clear who wrote it, under what circumstances, and for what compensation."