This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz RM Report site at 4 p.m. on Jul. 3, 2026.
As workplace harassment cases emerge as a core risk for corporations, major law firms are strengthening related teams and services. The number of reports is rising and calls for fairness in investigations are growing, making it difficult for corporations to handle cases on their own. Law firms are expanding their scope beyond internal investigations and responses to the labor office to include digital forensics, criminal responses, preventive training, and organizational culture assessments.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) on the 6th, workplace harassment cases increased from 7,774 in 2021 to 13,601 in 2024 and 16,373 in 2025. The MOEL's revision of the "workplace harassment prevention and response manual" on the 2nd is also cited as a factor driving demand for external investigations.
The revised manual requires excluding the employer from the investigation process when the employer is reported as the perpetrator. The measure is intended to prevent so-called "self-investigations," in which one examines one's own conduct.
◇As harassment reports rise, law firms compete on "investigation capacity"
Major law firms view workplace harassment cases not as simple labor disputes but as issues of internal control and compliance. That is because fact-finding, victim protection, discipline, petitions to the labor office, responses to investigative agencies, and media responses often become entangled at once after a report is filed. If the investigation process is criticized as inadequate, corporations can become embroiled in controversies over secondary harm or retaliatory measures.
KIM&CHANG addresses workplace conflicts and human rights issues such as harassment, sexual harassment, and discrimination through its D&H (Discrimination & Harassment) team. YulChon established a labor investigation center in Jul. 2023 to provide fact-finding, evidence collection, digital forensics, responses to the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), and media responses together. Lee & Ko operates its labor group by dividing it into a labor compliance team and a labor litigation team, and is strengthening preemptive responses such as victim interviews, evidence preservation, investigation procedure design, and review of disciplinary levels.
◇Expanding beyond labor office responses to criminal and forensics
Depending on the investigation results, workplace harassment cases can escalate to petitions to the labor office, civil lawsuits, criminal complaints, executive discipline, and media reports. For this reason, law firms are broadening their response systems by deploying not only labor and employment attorneys but also criminal, litigation, and digital forensics personnel together.
BAE, KIM & LEE LLC operates a "workplace harassment task force" within its labor and employment group. Last year it brought on former Vice Minister Park Hwa-jin of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) as an adviser, and this year added Certified Public Labor Attorney Madong-jun and Certified Public Labor Attorney Son Jun-hae. Yoon & Yang LLC responds jointly with its corporate litigation group in cases entangled with criminal issues, and Daeryook & AJU LLC also handles related cases through its criminal and compliance (C&C) group and labor and employment team.
Law firms are strengthening their forensic capabilities for the same reason. In workplace harassment cases, digital evidence such as conversation contents, emails, messengers, and in-house system logs often becomes key. The more the complainant's and the respondent's statements diverge, the more important it is to secure objective records and preserve evidence.
◇Expanding services with reporting systems and preventive training
Demand from corporations does not stop at post-incident responses. From the reporting stage, law firms are expanding service coverage upstream to investigation procedure design, evidence preservation, victim protection measures, and preventive training. If workplace harassment cases repeat, they can extend beyond conflicts between individual employees to problems in organizational culture and personnel management practices.
Jipyong LLC has developed its own online internal reporting system, "Sotong Hotline," and also operates a digital forensics center. The Shin & Kim LLC labor group conducts preventive training through its HR Compliance team by dividing targets into executives, middle managers, and general employees. In Mar. this year, attorney Lee Seung-jae newly joined. Barun Law LLC believes workplace harassment cases often become issues along with dispatch, contracting, and personnel management practices, and is examining corporations' overall personnel management.
◇Spreading beyond labor disputes into "corporate operational risk"
The law firm industry expects workplace harassment responses to become more segmented. Beyond simply investigating reports to determine whether to impose discipline, the independence of investigation procedures, victim protection measures, responses to abuse or misuse of reporting, responses to the labor office and investigative agencies, and media risk management have all become important.
In particular, as the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) revised the manual to prevent "self-investigations" in cases where the employer is reported as the perpetrator, demand for external investigations may grow further. From the perspective of corporations, if they fail to secure the fairness of the investigation, the outcome of the case handling itself can again become the subject of dispute. In effect, workplace harassment responses are shifting from post-incident handling at the HR/labor team level to a risk management domain across the corporation.
A law firm official said, "Workplace harassment cases often lead to problems across organizational culture and personnel systems," and added, "It is important to prepare in advance for report intake, investigation procedures, and disciplinary standards."