Korean Community Legal Service - Over 4,000 hours of pro bono support to more than 840 clients

Published on 14 June 2022 by Chris Yoo, Christina Choi and Ken Hong This article showcases the work of the Korean Community Legal Service.

There continues to be a strong need in the Australian community for access to legal services by those who do not have the financial means to pay.Publicly funded legal services, including Legal Aid, due to funding pressures but more significantly due to means testing, do not provide legal services to a broad range of citizens who require legal advice to protect their rights but do not meet stringent income (<$400/week) and assets (<$1,500 net assets) tests. The gap in the availability of legal services to members of the community who are unable to pay for legal services but do not qualify for legal aid, has been identified in articles such as “Middle Australians missed out” (The Australian Financial Review, Friday 15 April 2011).

Chris Yoo is Executive Director of the Korean Community Legal Service. Chris is a Partner at Genesis Capital, a private equity firm, and Managing Director at For Purpose Investment Partners, a not-for-profit impact investment manager. He is also the president of the Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS). Over the past 14 years Chris has held roles with Crescent Capital Partners, Bain Capital and Bain & Company and numerous corporate directorships including Smart Clinics, Australian Clinical Labs, MyHealth Medical Centres, NZ Panels Group, National Dental Care, Cover-More Group and Lifehealthcare.

Chris is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW and holds a Bachelor of Laws / Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Sydney.
Christina Choi is Principal Solicitor of the Korean Community Legal Service. Christina is an Assistant Director of ‘Commercial, Financial and Corruption’ and ‘Revenue and Benefits Fraud’ practice groups at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and has been in that Senior Executive role since August 2019. As a federal prosecutor, Chris has prosecuted a broad range of offences including drug offences, child sex exploitation offences, human trafficking offences, organised crime and terrorism offences, and now specialises in white collar crime. In 2011, Chris became one of the youngest Accredited Specialists in Criminal Law at that time and has served on the Specialist Accreditation Advisory Committee since 2016.
Ken Hong is Principal Solicitor of the Korean Community Legal Service. Originally from Seoul, Ken first came to Australia as an overseas student in 1994. He was admitted as a lawyer in NSW in 2004. Ken has more than 17 years of experience in advising and acting for clients who are private and public companies and government agencies. Ken is an active member of the Korean and Australian community. He previously served as a council member of the Medical Council of NSW, and the president of Korean Australian Young Leaders. Currently, Ken is the president of the Korean Australian Lawyers Association and an Advisory Board Member of Multicultural NSW. He also serves as a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee and the Professional Conduct Committee of the Law Society of NSW.