Breaking the Retired Judge's Leverage (2)
Of course, Oh Il-mu did not tactlessly bring up the case story he had heard from Ho-gyun right away. This meeting was, after all, nothing more than old friends catching up as friends. As was typical when men who had lived more than half their lives met, the conversation began with old stories, and several rounds of drinks were poured.
Just as the atmosphere had loosened considerably and the usual middle-aged jokes like “Judge Oh, the Never-Wrong Judge” or “Judge Kye, Who Never Causes a Scene in Court” were being exchanged, Oh Il-mu asked Kye Chan-sik, who seemed to be drinking quickly as if he had accumulated a lot of stress since leaving the court,
“How’s the lawyer life treating you?”
Kye Chan-sik let out a pained groan. “I should have just stayed at the court instead of chasing after a Supreme Court justice seat. It’s hell out here.”
“If the court is a boring heaven, then the outside is an entertaining hell.”
“Entertaining, my ass. The only cases that come in are ones that wouldn’t even reach the High Court when I was there. Then there are these fresh-out-of-law-school kids trying to climb over me. I’ve thought more than once about quitting being a lawyer and just living off my pension.”
The High Court only handled appeals from district court rulings that were deemed particularly complex or significant in legal terms. Having gone from presiding over such cases at the High Court to taking on minor matters from the initial stages as a lawyer, Kye Chan-sik clearly found it frustrating.
The conversation was flowing exactly in the direction Oh Il-mu had intended.
“Why the young lawyers? Do they not know the law?”
“If they don’t know it, I can teach them, but their attitude is the problem. Do you happen to know a lawyer named Kwon Ho-gyun?”
“The fact that you’re blurting out that name right in front of me tells me you’ve already done your homework. What about him?”
“Since you’re asking so directly, I’ll be frank too. When we met for mediation in a divorce case, he told me that if my client was involved in something shady, I should drop the case if I didn’t want to get dragged into it myself.”
“Something shady—do you mean the M Mart employee suicide case? Kwon the lawyer said that to you directly? Told you to drop the case?”
Kye Chan-sik, as if his insides were burning, downed the glass in front of him without even offering a toast.
“He didn’t say it outright, but that the case would tarnish my reputation or something like that. That’s what it amounts to, isn’t it? I heard he only passed the bar exam this year. I’m not his senior or his mentor, so is that any way for him to talk? Since you work with him, you should really keep him in line.”
Oh Il-mu emptied his own glass to match Kye Chan-sik’s pace, then chuckled as he refilled both empty glasses.
“Doesn’t sound like he’s entirely wrong, though. I looked into the M Mart employee suicide case myself, and it doesn’t look good. They treat their employees like machines, and if anyone doesn’t go along with it, they systematically ostracize them. There’s also talk that your client, Jang Mi-ye, is behind it.”
“I know that. What I’m saying is, whether I drop the case or not is my decision to make. What business does a first-year rookie have sticking his nose between me and my client?”
“Must be because he’s a third-generation chaebol. Kwon the lawyer has a bold streak. Seems like it really rubbed our Judge Kye the wrong way, huh? So, what are you going to do? All the reporters’ cameras are pointed at the M Mart president like cannons right now. You want to stand next to her and get hit by the blast?”
“I’m thinking about it. This is the first case I’ve taken on since joining the firm, so it’s not easy for me to just drop it out of the blue. When I was a judge, I only had to handle the cases well no matter what they were. But as a lawyer, I have to worry about my client’s character too. It’s exhausting.”
Since Ho-gyun and Oh Il-mu had taken turns whipping him, it was time to bring out the carrot they had prepared.
“As a friend, let me say this—why don’t you just drop the divorce case? It won’t do your reputation any good. If you bring a decent-sized QS case to your firm, won’t that be enough to save face?”
Kye Chan-sik’s eyes lit up. “Is there a case at QS that I could help with?”
“Well, I’m someone who left the QS Group to work elsewhere, but it seems they have an appeal heading to the Seoul High Court—where you used to work—and they were thinking of reaching out after hearing you’d retired. What do you say? Should I bring it up first?”
“Is the condition for taking the case that I drop this divorce case?”
The words “drop the divorce case” had come directly from Kye Chan-sik’s mouth. It meant his heart was leaning in that direction.
“Whether you drop it or not is, as you said earlier, something a lawyer should decide for himself. But from my position as the one making the introduction, I’d prefer it if you focused on the QS case. If this appeal goes well, it’ll be easier for me to bring you bigger cases using my remaining connections there.”
Clink! Kye Chan-sik nodded and raised his glass, and Oh Il-mu clinked his own against it, producing a clear sound.
After Kye Chan-sik withdrew, Yoon Seung-hyun’s divorce case proceeded smoothly. The opposing firm had tried to placate Jang Mi-ye by assigning her a former judge with experience at the family court, but unlike Kye Chan-sik, this was a so-called toothless ex-judge who had long since hung up his robes. The power of jeongwan-yeou peaked right after retirement and had a shelf life of five to ten years at most. Once that period passed, it became difficult to exert influence over one’s former workplace, and with so many new retirees entering the field, there was little difference from other lawyers.
Looking up the profile of the new lawyer representing Jang Mi-ye, it turned out he had already been retired for fifteen years. At that point, his power as an ex-judge was effectively nonexistent. The verdict I had seen in advance confirmed the same.
Order. The plaintiff shall pay the defendant 40,054,210,000 won as alimony and property division.
Although the amount was about two billion won less than when the opposing counsel’s name had been completely erased, it was still a decisive victory for our side. Jang Mi-ye’s new lawyer had desperately tried to lower the total value of her assets and diminish Yoon Seung-hyun’s contributions, but it was to no avail. Her assets, mostly consisting of publicly listed M Mart shares, were open to the world, and there was an abundance of evidence proving she had never lifted a finger for housework or childcare.
Thus, the first-instance ruling came down exactly as I had seen it in advance. If this judgment was finalized without an appeal, Yoon Seung-hyun would receive approximately 28 billion won, and I would receive about 12 billion. Cases of this scale almost never ended without an appeal, but since I couldn’t remain tied to this forever, I intended to get what I wanted and end it with a single stroke.
Through Yoon Seung-hyun, I had exchanged contact information with Jang Mi-ye and now sat facing her in a private room at a hotel restaurant for a secretive meeting.
“You came without your lawyer?”
Jang Mi-ye shot back at my question, her eyes blazing with unconcealed hostility. “Why would I come with the lawyer who lost the case? Unlike you, I see you came without the client.”
“The proposal I have for you, Ms. Jang Mi-ye, isn’t something that would benefit from anyone else knowing, so I asked Yoon Seung-hyun to let me come alone.”
“I see. You must have something to propose if you asked to meet. What is it?”
“First, let me ask something important. Do you intend to appeal?”
“Of course. How am I supposed to pay 40 billion?”
Since Jang Mi-ye had expressed her burden over the 40 billion won awarded in the first-instance ruling, it was a stroke of luck for me.
“Assuming the outcome remains the same even if you appeal, according to the retainer agreement signed with Yoon Seung-hyun, 12 billion of that 40 billion would be my share.”
“12 billion for a single case. You make good money. So?”
“That means I could also reduce that 12 billion for you.”
“Oh? You’re more generous than I thought. Is it because you’re the son of the QS Group chairman? The condition for the reduction is that I don’t appeal?”
“Yes. And there’s one more condition.”
“What is it?”
Jang Mi-ye’s gaze and tone had softened considerably compared to when we first met. Perhaps that was only natural when facing someone offering to shave off 12 billion.
“As the son of QS Group Chairman Kwon Byung-do, there’s something I really want, and it turns out you can provide it, Ms. Jang Mi-ye. How many shares of Jangbaek Corporation do you hold?”
Jang Mi-ye flinched. As expected, when the topic of Jangbaek Corporation—the holding company that controlled the entire JB Group—came up, her face clearly showed her discomfort.
“The shareholding structure of Jangbaek Corporation is strictly confidential to outsiders. I can’t answer that even if you ask. Is it Jangbaek Corporation shares that you want?”
“Yes, it is. How about selling me one share of Jangbaek Corporation stock for 12 billion won?”
“Everything you’ve said so far assumes the same result in the appeal. If the appellate court overturns the ruling, I wouldn’t have any reason to give you either the 12 billion or the Jangbaek Corporation shares, would I?”
“You really intend to appeal?”
“Aren’t you a lawyer? Appealing a first-instance ruling is my right, isn’t it?”
Having expected Jang Mi-ye to dig in her heels like this, I smiled and shook my head.
“It would be better if you didn’t.”
“That doesn’t sound like something the opposing counsel should be saying.”
“What if it were the son of QS Group Chairman speaking to the niece of JB Group Chairman?”
“What do you mean……?”
“I was curious why you were so desperate to divorce Yoon Seung-hyun, so I looked into it myself. It seems your father wants to form a marriage alliance with a certain National Assembly member’s family.”
Having had her private affairs exposed, Jang Mi-ye cut in. “Why are you digging into other people’s family matters?”
“Is it strange for the son of QS Group to take an interest in the family affairs of our competitor, JB Group? Your older sister is already married to another prominent family, so it seems you were the one chosen, even though your marriage is effectively over in all but name. Did I investigate correctly?”
I could see Jang Mi-ye’s tightly bitten lips trembling.
“So what does that have to do with this case? Are you saying you’ll block my remarriage if I appeal?”
“It wouldn’t look good if marriage talks were underway while you were still in the middle of a divorce lawsuit. Even if the in-laws were willing to accept that you’re remarrying, what would happen to the marriage talks if they found out you were ordered to pay alimony for cheating?”
Finally, Jang Mi-ye raised her voice. “Are you threatening me right now?”
Well, there was no reason to deny it.
“Yes, I am. The first-instance ruling is kept confidential, but if you take it to a higher court, the divorce judgment will be made public. In that case, I won’t even have to go through the trouble of exposing it myself.”
Cornered, Jang Mi-ye lashed out one last time. “Is this acceptable behavior for a lawyer? Aren’t you not supposed to carelessly disclose information you learned during litigation?”
“Are you planning to sue me for that? Then other people might become even more curious about what secrets they’re trying so hard to hide. My father would probably be very pleased if I prevented the JB Group from forming ties with the political world through marriage.”
Once it became clear that I was the one who could offer the favor of reducing 12 billion and the one holding the knife, Jang Mi-ye pressed her lips tightly shut.
“……”