Advisory Lawyer Will File a Report on Behalf of a Whistleblower

ACRC newly appointed 50 advisory lawyers as non-real name proxy lawyers for whistleblowers, strengthening the protection of whistleblowers’ identity with legal fees for lawyers provided

(26^th July 2023, ACRC)

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Kim Hong-Il) newly appointed 50 advisory lawyers as the fifth non-real name proxy lawyers to protect whistleblowers’ identity on July 26 at the Government Complex Seoul.

Vice Chairman of the Korean Bar Association (KBA, Chairman Kim Young-Hoon) Eo Young-Kang and Chairman of the Seoul Bar Association Kim Jeong-Wook attended the appointment ceremony.

The newly appointed advisory lawyers will serve as members of the association of non-real name proxy lawyers (100 members in total) led by the ACRC for the next two years, and details about the lawyers including names, serving areas, and fields of consulting desired are made public online via ACRC homepage and Clean Portal.

‘Non-real name proxy reporting’ system aims to prevent the leakage of a whistleblower’s identy by allowing him/her to use the name of a proxy lawyer representing him/her in cases of reporting on public interest infringement, corruption, improper solicitations and graft, etc.

Having organized the association of non-real name proxy lawyers in conjunction with the KBA since July 2019 to facilitate the proxy reporting system, the ACRC has been providing legal fees for lawyers for whistleblowers to ease their financial burden when hiring lawyers for receiving counseling and filing a non-real name proxy report.

The ACRC and KBA offered education to about 100 lawyers on July 20 on the non-real name proxy reporting system, and agreed to acknowledge the records of proxy reporting by lawyers as acts of public interest enhancement.

The ACRC Chairperson Kim Hong-Il said in his greetings at the appointment ceremony, “I would like to ask for more support for whistleblowers hesitating to report due to fears of the leakage of their identities so that they can muster up their courage to report,” calling for efforts to create society with fairness and common sense.

※ A Guide to Use a System of Non-Real Name Proxy Reporting of ACRC

Go to www.clean.go.kr and click ‘Information → Non-Real Name Proxy Reporting System User Guide → Association of Non-Real Name Proxy Lawyers’ and choose one of the lawyers on the list to send an email for requesting legal counseling