As a lead partner in Lee & Ko’s International Trade Practice Group, Ms. Hyunsoo Joo has more than 20 years’ experience as a lawyer working on international trade law and customs matters in Korea.

Ms. Joo has advised various public sector clients (such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and numerous commercial/private sector clients on a broad range of FTA, WTO and BITs related issues. She has extensive knowledge of Korean trade policies and economic sanctions, export controls, as well as special expertise regarding the steel, chemical , electronics and aerospace industries.

Throughout her career, Ms. Joo has been actively involved in many FTA negotiations and WTO disputes relating to the steel, chemical and electronics industries. She has in particular been prominently involved as a representative of the Korean government in analyses, discussions and other key processes relating to the KORUS FTA, Korea-EU FTA, Korea-ASEAN FTA, Korea-India CEPA, Korea-Canada FTA, KOREA-Mexico FTA, Korea-Chile FTA, and Korea-China FTA and has served as the legal counsel of the Korean government during the process of Korea-US FTA revision as well as Korea-UK FTA negotiation. She has also handled various WTO litigation cases, including, among others, the dispute concerning Korea’s anti-dumping duties on imports of certain paper products from Indonesia, the dispute concerning US anti-dumping and countervailing measures on large residential-use washing machines from Korea and the US anti-dumping measures relating to certain OCTG (oil country tubular goods) from Korea and successfully represented the Korean government before the WTO on the matters of US safeguard measures on Large Residential Washers on 2022.

Ms. Joo has extensive experience in advising clients on trade remedies and customs matters relating to anti-dumping, subsidies, safeguard and tariff classifications, as well as assisting many Korean and multi-national corporations in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) matters under various Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and FTAs, including, among others, those falling under the arbitration rules of the ISCID and UNCITRAL for a wide range of industries. Most recently, she successfully served as counsel in the second ICSID claim brought by a foreign investor against Korean government.

Further, she has represented numerous Korean companies and financial institutions on potential risks associated with economic sanctions programs enforced by the US, the UN and the EU as well as authored Eversheds Sutherland Global Sanctions Guide (Third Edition): South Korea chapter (2020.2), South Korea - Global Sanctions Guide (eversheds-sutherland.com)

She has lectured as an adjunct professor at Hanyang University School of Law from 2017 to 2020, served as a Director of the Korean Society of International Economic Law and also regularly participates in conferences and seminars on international Trade.