Supreme Court to Fully Review 'Criminal Case Contingency Fees'

Summary Dismissal Period Expires

An appellate court ruling that recognized the validity of a contingency fee agreement between a lawyer and a client in a criminal case will now be reviewed by the Supreme Court. The legal community is paying close attention to whether the Supreme Court will refer the case to the Grand Bench to consider changing previous case law.

The period for summary dismissal of this case expired on July 10. Summary dismissal is a system in which the Supreme Court, if it finds no issue with the lower court's decision, dismisses the appeal without further review within four months of its filing.

After the appellate court decision was handed down in January 2026, the losing defendant appealed, and on April 21, the Supreme Court assigned the case to its Second Panel. The presiding justice is Kwon Youngjun (Judicial Research and Training Institute, class 25). The Second Panel consists of Justice Kwon, as well as Justices Oh Kyungmi (class 25), Eom Sangpil (class 23), and Park Youngjae (class 22).

The legal community is watching to see whether this case will be concluded by the panel as is, or if it will be referred to the Grand Bench for reconsideration of existing precedent.

In July 2015, the Supreme Court Grand Bench ruled that "a contingency fee agreement between a lawyer and a client in a criminal case is invalid as it violates good morals or other social order" (2015Da200111). Since then, debate has continued within the legal community over the validity of this decision.

Reporter Park Suyeon, The Law Times

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.

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