법무법인 프런티어
Litigation Evidence Lawyer
Litigation Evidence Lawyer | Building Your Position and Responding to What's Used Against You
Evidence is not something that only happens to you — as a defendant in a civil case or a suspect in a criminal investigation, you have real tools to collect supporting evidence, lock it in before it is lost or altered, and challenge evidence the other side relies on. In civil litigation the court decides based on the preponderance of evidence presented by both sides (민사소송법 제202조), so silence or passivity is itself a risk. In criminal cases, illegally obtained evidence and involuntary confessions can be excluded outright (형사소송법 제308조의2, 제309조), which is one of the strongest tools available to a suspect or defendant.
Litigation Evidence | Gathering Evidence That Supports Your Position
Whether you are defending a civil claim or responding to a criminal accusation, the evidence that helps you rarely appears on its own. You typically need to go get it, and there are formal tools for doing so when the other side or a third party holds it.
Requesting Document Production and Order to Submit
If evidence you need is held by the opposing party or a third party (bank records, medical charts, internal company documents), you can ask the court to order its submission (민사소송법 제344조, 제347조). This is often the only way to get access to records the other side has no incentive to hand over voluntarily. Refusal without justification can itself be treated adversely by the court under certain conditions.
Fact-Finding Requests to Institutions
For records held by banks, telecom companies, hospitals, or government agencies, a party can apply for a fact-finding inquiry (사실조회) through the court, which formally asks the institution to provide specified information. This is commonly used to trace call logs, transaction histories, or medical treatment records relevant to the dispute.
Recordings, Messages, and Their Limits
Text messages, call recordings, and CCTV footage can be powerful evidence, but how they were obtained matters. Recording a conversation you are a party to is generally lawful, but secretly recording a conversation between other people without your participation can itself violate the Protection of Communications Secrets Act (통신비밀보호법 제3조, 제14조), and evidence obtained that way may be inadmissible or even expose you to separate criminal liability.
Litigation Evidence | Locking In Evidence Before It Disappears
Some evidence has a shelf life — a witness may become unreachable, CCTV footage is routinely overwritten within weeks, and physical evidence can be lost or altered. Korean civil procedure has a specific mechanism for this problem.
Application for Evidence Preservation
Where there is a concern that evidence will become difficult to use later — a witness relocating abroad, a document likely to be destroyed, or footage due for automatic deletion — you can file an application for evidence preservation before or during litigation (민사소송법 제375조, 제376조). The court can then examine a witness or inspect evidence ahead of the normal trial schedule, and that record can later be used as trial evidence.
Acting Quickly on CCTV and Digital Logs
CCTV systems commonly overwrite footage within 30 days, and many messaging platforms do not retain deleted content indefinitely. If footage or a digital record supports your side of the story, requesting preservation or securing a copy promptly is often more decisive than any argument made later at trial.
Preserving Evidence in a Criminal Investigation Context
As a suspect, you can also request that investigators preserve exculpatory evidence, and where investigators refuse to collect or preserve evidence favorable to you, this can later be raised as a procedural issue. Keeping your own copies of relevant messages, receipts, and correspondence from the outset protects you if the investigation record turns out to be incomplete.
Litigation Evidence | Responding When Evidence Is Used Against You
Being confronted with a document, recording, or witness statement that appears damaging is not the end of the analysis. Evidence has to be authentic, relevant, and properly obtained, and its weight is always open to challenge.
Disputing Authenticity
A party relying on a private document must prove it is genuine if the other side disputes its authenticity (민사소송법 제357조, 제358조). Editing, incomplete context, or unclear chain of custody can all be raised to challenge a document's reliability, particularly with screenshots, recordings, or documents that were not notarized or witnessed.
Challenging Weight, Not Just Existence
Even genuine evidence may not prove what the other side claims it proves. A recorded statement taken out of context, a single ambiguous message, or a witness with a personal stake in the outcome are all matters that go to how much weight the court should give the evidence, and this is argued through cross-examination and rebuttal evidence rather than by simply denying the document exists.
Submitting Rebuttal Evidence
Rather than only attacking the other side's evidence, presenting your own countervailing evidence — a more complete version of a conversation, a witness who can explain context, or documentation showing an alternative sequence of events — is often more persuasive to a court than argument alone.
Litigation Evidence | Evidence Rules Unique to Being a Suspect or Criminal Defendant
Criminal procedure gives suspects and defendants protections that do not exist in civil litigation, because the state carries a heavier burden and the consequences are more severe. Understanding these protections early in an investigation can change the outcome.
Exclusion of Illegally Obtained Evidence
Evidence collected through an unlawful search or seizure, or otherwise obtained by violating due process, cannot be used as evidence regardless of how incriminating it looks (형사소송법 제308조의2). This applies to physical evidence, digital data, and secondary evidence derived from an unlawful initial search.
Involuntary Confessions Are Excluded
A confession obtained through torture, violence, threats, unlawfully prolonged detention, or deception, or one whose voluntariness is otherwise in doubt, cannot be admitted as evidence (형사소송법 제309조). Even a confession that is later proven true can be excluded if the process used to obtain it was improper.
The Right to Review the Investigation Record
A criminal defendant's counsel can request access to the case record and evidence list held by the prosecution once an indictment is filed (형사소송법 제266조의3), which allows the defense to identify weaknesses in the evidence the prosecution intends to rely on and prepare a response before trial.
⚠ Statements made without a lawyer present can still be used against you
You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel during police and prosecutorial questioning (형사소송법 제244조의3). Exercising these rights is not an admission of guilt — it simply preserves your options while the evidence against you is still being tested.
Litigation Evidence | From Initial Consultation to Trial Presentation
We review what evidence already exists in your favor and against you, and identify gaps that need to be filled through formal discovery tools or preservation applications.
Where evidence is time-sensitive or held by a third party, we file the appropriate applications — document production orders, fact-finding requests, or evidence preservation applications — before deadlines pass.
We analyze how the opposing evidence was obtained and what it actually proves, distinguishing between genuinely damaging material and material that only appears damaging out of context.
We prepare rebuttal evidence, authenticity challenges, and — in criminal matters — motions to exclude unlawfully obtained evidence, aligned with the overall defense theory.
Evidence is formally submitted and argued at the relevant hearing or trial date, with witness examination and cross-examination conducted where necessary.
Litigation Evidence | How Fees Are Set for Evidence-Related Work
Typically set based on the complexity of the underlying civil or criminal case and the amount of evidentiary work required, such as the number of preservation applications or document review volume.
In civil matters, often tied to the amount recovered or the claim amount successfully defended against. In criminal matters, structured according to firm policy and case outcome category rather than a guaranteed result.
Fees for evidence preservation applications, fact-finding inquiries, appraisal or forensic analysis, and document authentication are billed separately as actual costs incurred.
Where digital forensics, handwriting analysis, or audio authentication is needed to establish or challenge evidence, these specialist costs are quoted separately based on the scope of analysis required.
※ Costs vary depending on case complexity and specific circumstances; exact fees will be provided during consultation. No specific outcome is guaranteed.
Litigation Evidence | Self-Check: Where Does Your Case Stand?
1️⃣ If You Are a Civil Defendant
- Have you identified every document or record the other side is relying on, and whether you have seen the originals?
- Is there evidence held by a bank, hospital, or third party that would support your version of events?
- Could any evidence against you — a message, recording, or document — be incomplete or lacking context?
- Is there a witness or piece of footage that may become unavailable if you wait?
2️⃣ If You Are a Criminal Suspect Under Investigation
- Have you been asked to sign a statement without fully understanding its contents?
- Were you informed of your right to remain silent and right to counsel before questioning began (형사소송법 제244조의3)?
- Do you know how the key piece of evidence against you was obtained — voluntarily, by warrant, or otherwise?
- Have you kept your own copies of messages, receipts, or records relevant to the allegation?
3️⃣ Evidence Preservation Urgency Check
- Is there CCTV footage relevant to your case that may be overwritten soon?
- Is a key witness planning to travel abroad or otherwise become hard to reach?
- Is there a risk the other party may alter, destroy, or dispose of a document or object central to the dispute?
4️⃣ Challenging Evidence Against You
- Has the other side proven the document is authentic, or have you disputed it (민사소송법 제357조)?
- Was any recording or evidence against you obtained through a method that itself may have been unlawful?
- Does the evidence actually prove what the other side claims, or only part of the story?
Frequently Asked Questions
Official References
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