[로펌 人사이트] “A young lawyer’s favorite law firm”… Sejong Law Firm, LLC ‘Open Culture’

[INterView] Oh Jong-han, attorney and general manager of ‘Sejong Law Firm (Limited)’

MZ lawyers are everywhere… Achievements through creative thinking

Strengthening communication and process operation… Promoting ‘member trust’
Actively collecting opinions on ‘horizontal culture’… collaboration synergy
Improved partner performance evaluation method… Public interest activities

▲ ‘Sejong Law Firm (Limited)’ logo. (Photo provided by Sejong Law Firm (Limited))

When you think of ‘Sejong Law Firm (Limited)’, we will strive to make the first impression that comes to mind as a good workplace that provides many opportunities for growth for young lawyers.

Oh Jong-han (18th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), attorney and CEO of Sejong Law Firm, said in an interview with this magazine at the office of D-Tower in Gwanghwamun, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 17th, “MZ generation“They make up the majority of law firm members, and creative thinking is becoming more important in the digital economy era,” he said.

▲ Oh Jong-han, the managing director of Sejong Law Firm (Limited), is being interviewed by EToday at the Gwanghwamun D Tower office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 17th. (Reporter Jo Hyun-ho hyunho@)

CEO Oh emphasized, “I believe that professional groups such as law firms have the advantage of ‘horizontal leadership’ rather than vertical leadership in bringing out the potential of members and promoting collaboration.”

Sejong’s culture of respecting young lawyers and autonomy as much as possible is clearly evident in the process of recruiting new lawyers. Associate lawyers make up a significant portion of the Recruiting Committee (RC) team, which leads recruitment. When Sejong selects new lawyers, the opinions of lawyers from the RC team who attended the internship and interviews are important.

The steering committee conducts ‘one-on-one’ interviews and small group conversations with members (partners) several times a year. In order to gather opinions within the company, we operate various task forces and committees in which senior and junior lawyers, advisory and litigation lawyers participate. The compensation system for partners also emphasizes ability and performance, but has various complementary measures such as activating multi-faceted partner evaluation and non-quantitative evaluation to lead to increased cooperation rather than internal competition.

CEO Oh introduced, “Associate is formed to hold a partner workshop every year and increase direct communication between associate lawyers and management,” and added, “We were also the first domestic law firm to hold a town hall meeting.” He went on to explain, “Sejong provides many opportunities to young lawyers and widens the door for them to become partners so that they can fully demonstrate their abilities, giving them the opportunity first and then allowing them to prove it with results.”

▲ Oh Jong-han, the managing director of Sejong Law Firm (Limited), is being interviewed by this magazine at the Gwanghwamun D Tower office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 17th. (Reporter Jo Hyun-ho hyunho@)

Shin Sejong Law Firm is known as a law firm with an open and horizontal organizational culture. Every Friday is designated as a casual day and a voluntary dress code is implemented. In 2022, the company promoted collaboration with ‘Pengsu’, produced a YouTube video, garnered attention, and produced a video for Sejong’s internal newsletter ‘Sejong Talk Talk’. It is evaluated as having created a dynamic and young organizational culture by breaking away from the rigid image of a large law firm.

We are working to improve the working environment by establishing a labor-management council called ‘Together Sejong’, which is a meeting body where employees and the management committee communicate directly. We have introduced the ‘Healthkeeper’ service, where masseuses with nationally recognized certification provide massages, and a psychological counseling center.

In addition, Shin Sejong aims to become a law firm that contributes to social integration and continuously realizes social values. ‘Sharing and Connecting’, an association established for this purpose, is helping North Korean defectors, children, and out-of-school youth adapt to society. Volunteer work for the homeless and low-income seniors was also made regular.

At this meeting, CEO Oh said, “We have decided to participate in various types of free legal support projects for startups entering overseas in collaboration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups,” adding, “The democratic values ​​and individual autonomy that Sejong has built over the past 40 years are important.” “We expect that the culture of respecting individuality will shine as a strength of Sejong in the future,” he said.

Reporter Park Il-kyung ekpark@