Lee & Ko excels across all areas of dispute resolution. Its team of talented and experienced litigators is led by no less than 25 partners and 70 lawyers who together encompass over 40 different specialties. The disputes team frequently collaborates with an extensive roster of practice area specialists, from construction to insolvency, and employs the expertise of industry specialists such as economic analysts, international trade experts, accountants, tax specialists, patent attorneys and regulatory analysts. The group comprises over 80 former Supreme Court Justices and assistant Attorney Generals, among others. A key strength of the firm’s dispute resolution practice is its ability to handle cross-border disputes. Its litigators have experience in managing disputes that involve multiple jurisdictions and are skilled in navigating the complexities of international litigation and arbitration. They are also experienced in working with foreign counsel and managing local counsel in other jurisdictions. The firm is a known market leader for handling Serious Accidents Punishment Act matters and its product liability group has been increasingly active in the past year. To provide on-the-ground support for its expanding roster of TMT clients, a regional office was opened early last year in Pangyo, the Silicon Valley of South Korea.
Won Seok Ko, Yang Suk Han, Seon Tae Kim, Jin Soo Han, Heonmyung Jeong and Dong Jae Yi are key figures for general corporate disputes. Antitrust litigators Inseok Lee, Byong Ki Chung, Yong Seok Ahn, Hwan Jeong, Pyoung Keun Song, Young Hoon Jung and Eulhwan Kang are the main contacts for contentious competition matters, while Chanik Jang, Jin Wook Yang and Soon Pyo Nam are core figures in the construction litigation offering. Eunjai Lee, Wanshik Lee, Jiwoong Lim, Jung Hyun Lee and Seok Pyo Hong feature for insolvency, while Jae Hoon Kim, Youngmo Kwon, Un Ho Kim and Choong Jin Oh are the senior figures for intellectual property litigation.
Sean Sungwoo Lim and Robert Wachter lead the international arbitration group alongside David Kim and Sanghoon Han, who co-head the construction arbitration practice group. The key labour and employment practitioners are Sang Hoon Lee, Chang Soo Jin and Hyunseok Song. On the product liability and recall side, the main partners include In Sang Kang, Jin So and Jae Deog Bae. Jay Shim, Ok Hyun Ma, Tom Kwon and Sunghwan Kim are the key tax disputes contacts, while Yeong Seok Park and Tae Ki Ghil head up the sizeable white-collar crimes group.
A seasoned team represented the CEO and controlling shareholder of Kyobo Life Insurance in a $1.8 billion dispute with PE shareholders, global funds Affinity Equity Partners, IMM PE, Baring PE and
GSIC. LG Uplus also enlisted Lee & Ko for its class action matter initiated by thousands of consumers concerning the late release of 5G services due to a delay in equipment installation. In a seminal construction industry matter, the firm went to bat for Daewoo E&C and secured a groundbreaking win against the
Reconstruction Association over its unfair practice of changing lead constructors.
One notable highlight was the firm’s win for its client in a landmark case, the first ever regarding an injunction that cancelled a private investment business in the name of the public good. Here, the litigation group secured a win for its client, Ilsan Grand Bridge Corporation against Gyeonggi Province. This high-profile case garnered a lot of varying public opinions and was the first instance to deal with an administrative order under the Act on Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure. This case will likely serve as an important precedent for private investment businesses.
In a precedent-setting matter, the white-collar team is defending Sampyo Industry in a case that is the first instance of the Serious Accident Punishment Act (SAPA) being applied. SAPA came into effect in January 2022. The market has been closely watching this case since SAPA imposes potentially severe criminal sanctions on CEOs in cases of a serious industrial accident. As this matter is the very first case where a CEO of a company was charged under SAPA, the case will set the standard for future like cases in the country.
The competition team is acting for Broadcom in relation to a KFTC investigation over its alleged abuse of market dominance and unfair trade practices involving Samsung Electronics. It also assisted nine shipping companies and the Korean Shipowners’ Association in a case where the KFTC alleged that 23 shipping companies agreed on the freight rate for ocean container freight services on Korea-Southeast Asian routes. The competition regulator was also investigating the clients’ agreement on freight rates for services on Korea-China routes. The construction team acted for Dunchon Apartment Reconstruction Association and its contractor consortium against several commercial real estate owners in an injunction case. The firm is additionally assisting Woori Bank in a litigation against SK Ecoplant for construction claims of over $10 million.
During the research period, the IP group represented GlaxoSmithKline in a bet-the-company patent infringement and damages action against pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences Korea with regards to anti-HIV medications. The case spanned the globe with suits simultaneously taking place in the US, UK, France, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Australia and Canada. With the firm’s deep expertise in multi-jurisdictional litigation, the case was successfully concluded with a global settlement by the client withdrawing its claims in exchange for royalty payments. This enabled GSK to keep solidifying its position in the Korean market as a lead maker of its blockbuster drug.
The international arbitration team continues to counsel the government of Korea in an investment treaty arbitration under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) and 2013 United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Arbitration Rules brought by American hedge fund Elliott Associates. At the time, the matter was the first investment treaty arbitration case initiated under the KORUS FTA and the fourth case against the Republic of Korea. This case was the first transparent investment arbitration proceeding to be conducted against the Republic of Korea pursuant to the transparency provisions in the KORUS FTA. Another international arbitration highlight was the team’s successful representation of the chairman and chief executive of Kyobo Life Insurance Company in an arbitration that was commenced by Guardian Holdings and Apfin Investment over a shareholder agreement dispute.
The Lee & Ko employment litigation team was successful for Megastudy, defending it from claims from lecturers who demanded employee status despite being hired as independent contractors. The team additionally defended Samsung Insurance from a similar claim in the Supreme Court, where its accident response agents alleged employee status and demanded severance payments upon termination. The client won in the highest court after Lee & Ko reversed its district-level loss, where the client was represented by another law firm.
In a seminal tax matter, the firm acted for Dongwon Loex in a tax litigation against the local tax authorities’ imposition of acquisition tax in relation to a split-off. This is the first case where the court ruled that the acquisition of asset due to a split-off is the acquisition of asset without consideration for tax purposes. The team assisted Biogen in successfully obtaining a tax ruling in relation to the securities transaction tax arising from a high-profile M&A deal.
The disputes team bolstered its expertise with numerous partner hires across all practice areas. These additions include senior lawyers from the prosecutor’s office, the police agency, government institutions and a law professor. For example, corporate and finance litigation specialist Kyung Hwan Han was a presiding judge in the Korean judiciary for more than two decades. Another recently recruited partner who brings his expertise in product liability, white-collar crime and management right disputes, Kiri Yi was also a judge in the Korean judiciary for 19 years. Renowned environmental law authority and environment, energy and ESG policy specialist, Hongkyun Kim, was a professor of the Hanyang University School of Law for more than 23 years.
Antitrust litigator Jeannie (Yee Jean) Jeong joined from Shin & Kim, and senior adviser Min Seok Si joined from the Ministry of Employment and Labour, where he served for nearly 30 years. Si was also the head of the Seoul Employment and Labor Office. Several senior counsels joined the tax department from the leading ‘Big 4’ accounting firms, while two tax partners were hired from SMPP Legal and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Client feedback
“The Lee & Ko team is extremely talented. The lawyers go into the details of every single documentation and advise on all possible measures. They are proactive with the do's and don’ts, and most importantly, they find the most practical, timely and cost-effective ways to resolve the dispute.” – Commercial and transactions
“We appreciate their local expertise, ease of communication, and ability to translate domestic dynamics and issues to a foreign attorney.” – Government and regulatory
“Lee & Ko has an excellent reputation in patent litigation. They are enormously dedicated and skilled practitioners. We have complete faith and trust in their work. They have always been able to deliver practical and often creative solutions to our patent issues. Lee & Ko is one of, if not the best patent litigation firm in South Korea. Their expertise in patent litigation is unparalleled. We have also been very impressed with their client care. They are hugely responsive and they put in the hours as needed to get the job done. We have only very positive experiences with Lee & Ko.” – Intellectual property
“Prompt and quick service.” – Intellectual property
“Prompt and seamless collaboration on a nine-figure arbitration.” – International arbitration
“Strategised well to respond to the audit with a holistic approach.” – Trade and customs
Sun Young Kim
“We appreciated her attention to detail, knowledge of law and court practices, proactive thinking to involve experts, problem-solving and patience.”
Jae Hoon Kim
“Jae Hoon Kim is a senior statesman in the patent litigation field. He is well versed in the ins and outs of patent litigation in South Korea and has huge gravitas. He also makes himself available when needed by clients.”
Saemee Kim
“Highly responsive and efficient, with excellent client management skills.”
Inseok Lee
“He fully understood the needs of the company and delivered a very well-arranged consult. In addition, his approach to solving the issue was practical based on the experiences and knowledge he gained throughout his career.”
Min Chul Kim
“Prompt and efficient. Very commercially effective.”
Frank Shyn
“Communications are very good. He explains issues very well.”
