Jung Won-Young, president of the In-House Counsel Forum, delivers a congratulatory speech at the Law Expo Seoul 2025.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will further expand the role of legal professionals, says a former South Korean minister during the three-day Law Expo Seoul 2025 at the aT Center, which drew nearly 2,000 participants.
“As AI develops, the role of legal professionals as advisers in providing solutions linked to national strategies and industrial policies will become extremely important because new laws will be enacted and enforcement decrees will be amended,” said Park Young-Sun, who served as South Korea’s minister of SMEs and startups from 2019 to 2021, at the expo.
The Law Expo Seoul 2025 – which was co-hosted by the In-House Counsel Forum (IHCF), Korean legal media outlet the Law Times and event company Messe Esang – was held on 3-5 December.
Leaders from the legal sector line the stage for a event celebrating the launch of Law Expo Seoul 2025.
US semiconductor giant Nvidia announced in October that it will supply more than 260,000 of its most advanced AI chips to South Korea. Citing this as an example, Park said legal professionals would play a key role in infrastructure-related permits, structuring large-scale, long-term contracts and designing governance frameworks for AI infrastructure.
“While some only simply do as AI systems recommend, we must equip ourselves with the ability to assess AI as an assistant. In this coming era, the role and workload of legal professionals will only continue to grow,” added Park.
Supreme Court justice Roh Tae-ak and IHCF president Jung Won-Young delivered congratulatory speeches. The event emcee also read out a message from the South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung.
Attendees engaged in keynote presentations and panel discussions on the latest developments in the Korean legal profession. Many booths hosted by legaltech companies and law firms attracted attention. A mentoring networking lunch was also held, where mentor lawyers – with experience in corporations, law firms and consulting firms – shared strategies for career transition and helped legal professionals explore ways to broaden their skills.
Jung spoke to Asia Business Law Journal at the expo on why she decided to co-host the event. “As the legal market has been changing rapidly, we have been constantly considering how the IHCF should grow, and many in-house counsel have expressed a strong desire to receive proper mentoring. We prepared these programmes to offer consultations with experts who can serve as reliable guides,” she said.
In the context of AI, Jung predicted that as AI replaced many time-consuming tasks, legal professionals were likely to be assigned more significant and high-value work. She urged future legal professionals to build the capability to leverage AI and manage their tasks with greater efficiency.
On international collaboration, Jung said: “The IHCF is a group with international expertise, made up of more than 2,600 members who are qualified lawyers in 16 countries including South Korea. As many young lawyers dream of building careers overseas, the IHCF will explore further learning opportunities through collaboration with in-house counsel associations abroad going forward.”
The expo was supported by platinum sponsors BNK Financial Group, Law & Company, BHSN; gold sponsors Amazon Web Services Korea and Smile Shark; and silver sponsors Lawting, LG AI Research, Nepla, D&A, Trust Tax and Seohwadam Law Offices.
