Jeon-gwan ye-u refers to an informal arrangement in the South Korean legal system whereby retired judges and public prosecutors who go on to become lawyers in private practise receive special treatment from their incumbent former colleagues.
[6] Because of the perception that it will offer them an advantage in their cases, clients thus prefer to engage the services of defense attorneys who have previously served as judges or public prosecutors.
The group of retired judges as a whole exhibited an unusually high acceptance rate for their cases of 63.2%, among whom the two highest were Yi Don-hoe at 94.3% and Song Jin-hun at 92.7%.
[11] Efforts were made as early as 1973 to control the issue of jeon-gwan ye-u, by placing limits on the ability of retired prosecutors and judges to open their own law firms.
[14] In March 2010, the Grand National Party proposed widening the restrictions, barring judges-turned-lawyers from taking cases in the entire region where they previously served as district judges for a period of one year.