The New Standard for Legal Services:

Toward Consumer-Centered Innovation

Greetings. The Law Times, in partnership with Korea’s two leading associations of corporate counsel—the In-House Counsel Forum (IHCF) and the Korea In-House Counsel Association—is pleased to present the 2026 Korea Law Firm Consumer Report, the third edition in this series.

This year’s report marks significant progress over its predecessors in both scale and quality. Since the first edition in 2024, we have worked to capture the voices of legal-service consumers vividly and accurately, and in 2026, 3,124 in-house counsel across 1,364 companies took part in the evaluation. These figures represent a 2.5-fold increase in participants and a 3.4-fold increase in participating companies compared with 2025—a clear sign of the strong interest the report has drawn from the market.

The pool of firms evaluated also expanded to 300 in total, encompassing firms registered with the Ministry of Justice as well as foreign legal consultant offices and joint venture law firms. It is a benchmark that genuinely reflects the entire domestic legal-services market.

As in previous years, the 2026 report contains only the candid, objective evaluations of “genuine consumers” who completed verification through their corporate email addresses, a measure designed to keep third parties out of the process.

In the “Best Lawyer” category, which draws keen interest every year, a total of 3,892 responses were submitted (including duplicate mentions), bringing a wealth of specific feedback from in-house counsel on the individual capabilities of law firm attorneys.

Beyond mere competition for rankings, this data offers law firms a direction for improving their services and gives consumers the insight to choose the legal partner best suited to them.

With its substantially larger body of participants and firms, we hope the 2026 Korea Law Firm Consumer Report will enhance transparency in the legal market and serve as a bridge that strengthens trust between providers and clients.

We extend our deep gratitude to the 3,124 in-house counsel who, amid their demanding work, shared invaluable views for the advancement of Korea’s legal industry. Our thanks also go to Chair Wonyoung Jeong of the IHCF and Chair Jaehwan Lee of the Korea In-House Counsel Association for their partnership in this project, and to the staff of The Law Times’ business and editorial divisions, who worked tirelessly on the survey and the production of this report.

May, 2026

Publisher, The Law Times

Soohyung Lee