“I’m surprised there’s such a quiet place in the courthouse.”
“It’s in a secluded area, so not many people come here.”
“Right. Even I find it hard to intentionally come all the way here when I’m rushing for trials.”
We took a seat on a bench located at the far end of the courthouse.
It was so secluded that you wouldn’t know about it unless you specifically looked for it.
Anyway, we came here to talk, so it wasn’t bad that there were no people around.
“Hmm, or maybe it’s because it’s summer, so places like this are hotter?”
“That’s true, but now that autumn is approaching, it’s better than I expected.”
“I guess so.”
Perhaps because the bench was located on a hill, a cool breeze blew.
I placed the coffee I had bought from the vending machine on the bench and began.
“Actually, I came to the courthouse a little early today because I wanted to tell you two things. Since both of you are busy, I thought it would be better to tell you while I’m here, rather than making separate time.”
“Hmm, I see. That’s a reasonable choice, typical of Yoo Hee.”
“Oh, I was thinking the same thing.”
I opened my mouth, encouraged by the two lawyers’ responses.
“If the verdict today is good, won’t we be able to maintain a good relationship with An-eum in the future?”
“Oh, of course. It’s hard to overturn a result in the third trial, normally. If it goes well today, it’s practically a win.”
Lawyer Yoon Yi-hoon clapped his palm with his fist.
Today is the sentencing day for the second trial of the Food Sanitation Act violation case.
Unlike the first and second trials, which deal with factual matters, the third trial, held in the Supreme Court, deals with legal matters.
In other words, if the first (original) and second (appellate) trials disputed the facts, the Supreme Court determines whether the law applied to those facts was correctly applied.
Even so, almost 70% of cases are dismissed without deliberation, meaning they are rejected without review.
Even if a case goes through that low probability to receive a Supreme Court judgment, the probability of the argument being accepted is even lower.
That’s why today’s verdict is so important.
I adjusted my posture and said,
“Yes. If today’s result is good, how about we try to create a channel for legal services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the future?”
“Legal services? What are you trying to do?”
“Nothing grand, but I was thinking of creating a legal newsletter that would be helpful for SMEs.”
“Something like a legal information bulletin?”
“Yes, that’s right. We’d send out helpful material once a week for free.”
Lawyer Yoon, who was listening to our conversation from the side, asked me a question.
“Then how do you plan to create the material?”
“How about lawyers who are of the same mind take turns writing brief summaries?”
“I agree because the intention is good, but will other lawyers think the same?”
Lawyer Ahn said with a serious expression. I pulled out my prepared answer to the anticipated question.
“First, if lawyers take turns, it’ll only be about once or twice a month, so it won’t be too much of a burden. More importantly, the goal is to convert to a paid service once it’s established, so I think it’s worth trying.”
“Is that possible? Only law firms like ours pay for legal information bulletins; general companies usually read economic newspapers, don’t they?”
“We have to make them read it. We just need to make it that valuable.”
In reality, if it converts to a paid service, a significant portion of the companies that viewed it for free will drop off.
This is because we plan to charge a certain price.
From the beginning, there are specific places we want to see it.
‘Exporting SMEs.’
Our information bulletin will include not only legal materials but also the dollar exchange rate information from my laptop.
And this is why I want to create a legal newsletter.
More precisely, it’s to minimize the financial accident that will occur in the fall of 2008.
At that time, ‘exporting SMEs’ suffered enormous damage.
This is because dollar derivatives sold by banks from 2006 to early 2008, two years from now, will explode like a big bomb.
‘They tried to sell dollars at a stable price, and that’s what happened.’
Even when traveling, not just for business, people pay attention to exchange rates.
This is because buying at the lowest possible price reduces travel expenses.
It’s only natural for a business dealing with large sums of money to want to sell dollars at a stable exchange rate.
That’s how the problematic foreign exchange derivatives came about.
‘If a company signed up for a derivative product with an agreed exchange rate of 1,000 won, for example.’
During the contract period, if the dollar exchange rate does not fall below 950 won or exceed 1,050 won, they can sell at the agreed exchange rate of 1,000 won and even make a small profit.
At first glance, these seem like favorable terms for a company.
However, this product led to ruinous results when the exchange rate, which was in the 900 won range in early 2008, surpassed the 1,500 won mark due to the US financial crisis…
This is because if the exchange rate rose above 1,050 won even once during the contract period, they had to sell at the agreed exchange rate of 1,000 won.
Why is this a problem?
Think about it.
In the problematic year of 2008, the dollar exchange rate was 1,500 won.
Not only did it instantly exceed the upper limit of 1,050 won, but if they just sold it, it would be 1,500 won, but they were forced to sell it at 1,000 won.
‘Even if they only contracted for a million dollars, they’d have to sell 1.5 billion won worth for 1 billion won…’
Wow, that’s nerve-wracking.
But do export companies really only trade a million dollars?
What if it’s ten million dollars?
If they hadn’t joined the product, they could have sold it to the bank for 15 billion won, but they had to sell it for 10 billion won.
It means a miracle of 5 billion won being wiped out on the spot occurs.
‘But the problem doesn’t end here.’
What the company signed up for at the bank was a ‘derivative product.’
What does that mean?
It means that there are option regulations.
‘Like a 2x option.’
If they originally agreed to sell 1 million dollars, it means they have to go double or nothing.
They have to sell back 2 million dollars to the bank, not 1 million.
Even with simple calculations, a 500 million won loss instantly doubles to 1 billion won.
In short, the profit you can gain is at most a few tens of millions of won, but the loss can be hundreds of millions to billions, or even more.
Consequently, as the exchange rate surpassed 1,500 won per dollar, many companies that had joined the product went bankrupt, and the total combined loss amounted to trillions of won.
There were frequent cases where even thriving black-ink exporting SMEs went under.
Then why was the damage concentrated only on SMEs?
Large corporations form dedicated teams to manage the risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations themselves.
However, unlike large corporations, SMEs have higher risks and fewer foreign currency reserves, so they joined products to hedge against risk and ended up in this situation.
‘It’s impossible to prevent all of this.’
It’s even unknown how far I can extend through An-eum in the first place.
And it’s even more uncertain how far my second plan will work.
Fortunately, I heard from a company insider that the CEO of An-eum has a wide network in the industry.
‘Indeed, thanks to that, I was able to easily get confirmation letters and petitions to submit to the court.’
I just hope the network is wider than I think.
My goal is not the food industry, but exporting SMEs.
Of course, in the future, with the rise of K-content, food companies will also participate heavily in exports, but it’s 2004 now.
That’s still a distant matter.
Of course, there’s a more pressing issue right now.
That is, which lawyers to involve in the legal newsletter.
As expected, Lawyer Ahn asked the same question.
“Do you have any lawyers in mind, Yoo Hee?”
“First, the two lawyers here.”
“Haha, I thought so.”
“Yes, I suppose the lawyers I know are limited.”
Of course, no matter how limited, Hyun Ah-jin is absolutely out of the question.
I met her, it was unpleasant, and I never want to see her again…
“And the other person, you’ll meet them soon.”
If we win today’s case, we’ll receive the agreed-upon compensation.
And the success fee for this case is sweeter than I expected.
One of the two stories I had to tell today was done.
We moved to the place where we were scheduled to meet with CEO An-eum and continued our conversation.
“If I remember correctly, Lawyer Yoon, you mentioned your uncle was having a headache recently?”
“Ugh. I must have said that when I was half-asleep, and you remember it.”
How many times have we worked overtime together?
Actually, it was a case I knew well without even hearing about it.
Because it was a memorable case for me in my own way.
‘Oh dear. My uncle, he completely bled out after wrongly acquiring a company.’
‘If he’s your uncle, Lawyer, I remember him as a subsidiary CEO.’
In his previous life, Lawyer Yoon entrusted this case to another law firm.
It was probably due to the burden of the outcome.
‘If we take it on and the result is bad, how will Lawyer Yoon face his uncle?’
But I know the outcome of this case.
That’s why I will make sure Lawyer Yoon takes on this case.
If we resolve his uncle’s case, his standing within the family will improve, and we can also secure performance.
Moreover, it’s difficult for an associate to directly take on a case.
It has to go through a partner anyway.
Then who will do that?
Naturally, Lawyer Ahn should. And there’s one more person I have in mind.
An expert in this field and someone I’ll recruit for the team I’ll create in the future.
Furthermore, even if an associate can’t directly take on a case, they can receive performance bonuses.
This is because the partner will allocate it if they bring in a case.
My assigned lawyers are getting better performance and results, and I’m also taking care of future team members.
I counted on my fingers as I persuaded Lawyer Yoon Yi-hoon.
“If we just win this case, Lawyer Yoon’s performance will soar, right?”
“Oh, that would be great if only it were possible. But… we also have to consider the opposite scenario.”
The reason Lawyer Yoon is hesitant.
This case does not yet have a clearly established precedent.
In other words, they have to create the case themselves.
Lawyer Yoon’s uncle is a legendary figure who started as an ordinary employee in a subsidiary and rose to the position of CEO today.
Considering his standing in the family, he would hate to even imagine losing.
Moreover, Lawyer Yoon is now an associate of almost one year.
The size of the case was too big for him to just jump into for experience and performance.
‘If he loses, he’ll really hear about it for the rest of his life, won’t he?’
He’ll be getting an earful like an event every time a major family event occurs.
Because asking about holiday greetings boasts a long tradition.
But what if that doesn’t happen?
This is a guaranteed win. If only I can persuade Lawyer Yoon.
“What if there’s a high possibility of winning?”
“Isn’t this the case where we can’t be sure of that possibility?”
“Hmm, hearing you two talk like that makes me curious about what kind of case it is.”
Lawyer Ahn Gyeong-hun, who had been listening to our conversation, chimed in.
Half success.
Lawyer Ahn never exaggerates cases or acts out of personal greed.
He only presents his best within his capabilities.
Lawyer Yoon, who knew that well, fell into thought for a moment, then, as if making up his mind, he opened his mouth.
Even if entrusting it to another law firm is something to consider later, there’s no harm in hearing Lawyer Ahn’s opinion.
“My uncle’s company, which he represents, merged with a corporation that received donations for SME support.”
“But what was the problem?”
“They bought the company that received the donations incorrectly and got hit with a tax bomb.”
“Just how much was the donation?”
“6 billion won.”
“Gasp!”
Indeed, it was quite substantial.