South Korea is set to introduce a Japanese-style joint venture system for foreign law firms in 2005 as the key Asian state moves towards limited liberalisation of its legal market.

Alison Hook, international director at the England and Wales Law Society, told Legal Week Global that Korean legal regulators had indicated that they favoured the Japanese model for allowing in foreign firms.

"South Korea has offered to allow foreign firms to open under home title. However, this will operate along Japanese lines," she said.

Hook and other Law Society representatives are in Korea this week to meet with the Korean Bar Association and representatives from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Trade to talk about how such a framework could be implemented.

Despite the positive step many UK and US lawyers will be disappointed by the expected use of joint ventures, which have been criticised in Japan and Singapore.

A joint venture model would allow UK and US firms to open offices in Seoul under home title but not directly offer local law advice or employ local lawyers.

Despite being one of northeast Asia's smallest countries, South Korea is regarded as one of the region's most important economies, notably in the industrial and electronics sectors where it has created companies such as Hyundai, Daewoo and LG.