About Lee & Ko
History
2010 ~
Increasing Role as Legal Advisors in International Transactions and Reinforcement of Leading Role in Domestic Cases
- Lee & Ko further expands its role in advising clients on complex multi-jurisdictional matters and assisting Korean corporations with implementing overseas business expansions and successfully navigating in the rapidly evolving global legal environment.
- Lee & Ko is ranked as a first-tier law firm in all practice areas by the International Financial Law Review1000, Legal 500, Asia-Pacific M&A Awards, Thomson Reuters, and other reputable publications and receives recognition as “best Korean law firm” and “best M&A law firm in Korea.”
- Lee & Ko represents Samsung in the Samsung v. Apple IP infringement case.
- Lee & Ko successfully represents clients dealing with first ever cases of their kind involving corporate tax dispositions relating to merger rights and cancellation of withholding tax disposition in connection with patent license fees.
- Lee & Ko successfully represents client in Korea’s largest ever wage dispute case.
- Lee & Ko acts as legal advisor to regulatory authorities (foreign and domestic) with regard to various investigatory and review matters relating to anti-trust actions concerning large-scale international cartel activities (involving electronics, air freight, and foreign exchange transactions).
- 2015. 12. Lee & Ko opens its Ho Chi Minh Office.
- 2016. 11. Lee & Ko opens its Hanoi Office.
2000 ~
Expansion and Greater Specialization
- Lee & Ko acts as legal advisor for establishment of Korea’s first holding company and financial holding company under newly enacted statutory and regulatory framework.
- Lee & Ko represents clients in Korea’s largest international arbitration case involving issues relating to large-scale construction projects impacted by mergers and acquisitions of certain financial institutions.
- Lee & Ko acts as legal advisor for the first ever listing by a multinational corporation of depository receipts on the Korean stock exchange, as well as acting as legal advisor for the first ever listing of a Korean insurance company on the Korean stock exchange.
- 2007. 3. Lee & Ko establishes its Pro Bono Committee to actively develop and promote worthwhile and effective community service initiatives.
- 2005. 9. Lee & Ko Opens its Beijing Office.
- Lee & Ko reinforces its reputation as a leading litigation firm by successfully representing clients In a number of complex, high-visibility civil and criminal trials relating to management disputes, shareholder derivative suits, and trials of public officials arising out of issues triggered by the Asian financial crisis, among other things.
- Lee & Ko successfully represents client in a highly publicized and precedent-setting intellectual property dispute against a multinational corporation.
- Lee & Ko merges with Kwang Jang, a law firm specializing in litigation, resulting in a near doubling of the law firm’s size and firmly establishing the firm as a preeminent litigation firm in addition to its already well established reputation as a preeminent commercial transactions law firm.
1990 ~
Solidifying Reputation as a Pioneer in the Korean Legal Market
- Lee & Ko becomes the first Korean law firm to establish specialized legal practice teams
- Lee & Ko acts as legal advisors to numerous Korean major corporations facing unprecedented financial restructuring and insolvency challenges during the Asian financial crisis of 1997
- Lee & Ko acts as legal counsel for the first ever concurrent listing of domestic and foreign depository receipts by a Korean company.
- Lee & Ko plays key role as participating law firm handling the largest ever international arbitration case relating to nuclear power generation.
1970 ~ 1980
Establishment and Building a Solid Foundation for the Future
- Lee & Ko takes a leading role among Korean law firms in advising numerous clients on a wide range of cross-border joint-venture transactions, during a period of rapid growth and increasing popularity of joint ventures generally as a business odel favored by Korean businesses for obtaining investment capital and technology.
- Lee & Ko begins establishing itself as a leading innovator in the legal services market as legal advisor in a number of “first ever” transactions, such as the first ever overseas convertible bond issuance carried out by a Korean corporation.
- Lee & Ko develops solid client base, forming long-term relationships with prominent business enterprises and institutions such as KEPCO, POSCO, Bank of Korea and the Korea Exchange Bank, among many others.
- Lee & Ko’s form of business organization is changed from law firm partnership to law firm corporation.1977. Lee & Ko is founded as a law firm partnership.