Recent Developments

Lee & Ko was selected as Tier 1 law firm in Korea across 16 fields according to ‘The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2026’. Furthermore, 44 Lee & Ko attorneys were selected as ‘Hall of Fame’, ‘Leading Partners’, ‘Next Generation Partners’, and ‘Leading Associates’ in their respective fields.


Antitrust and Competition
Banking & Finance
Capital Markets 
Corporate and M&A  
Dispute Resolution  
Fintech and financial services regulatory  
Insurance 
Intellectual Property
International Arbitration
Labour and Employment
Projects and Energy  
Real Estate  
Regulatory: white-collar, compliance and investigations
Shipping
Tax
TMT


Antitrust and Competition: Hwan Jeong, Suruyn Kim, Jung Won Kwon, Jeong Yoon Choi
Banking & Finance: Yeo Kyoon Yoon, Myoung Chul Kwak
Capital Markets: Hyunjoo Oh
Corporate and M&A: Hyeong Gun Lee, Sang Gon Kim, Ho Joon Moon, Kyungchun Kim, Sung Min Kim, Daehoon Koo
Dispute Resolution: Pyoung Keun Song, Seong Won Chang, Jae Heon Park, Yeon Woo Lee
Fintech and financial services regulatory: Seong Hwan Ju
Insurance: Jin-Young Jung, Jin Hong Kwon, Sae Um Kim
Intellectual Property: Un Ho Kim, Keum Nang Park
Intellectual Property: PATMA: Kyungjin Kim, Soo Yeon Park
International Arbitration: Sanghoon Han, Saemee Kim, Han-Earl Woo
Labour and Employment: Chang-Soo Jin, Sang-Hoon Lee, Jae Hoon-Choi, William Kim, Shawn (Seong Ho) Han
Projects and Energy: Hun Ko
Real Estate: Jin Wook Yang, Jee In Kim
Regulatory: white-collar, compliance and investigations:: Tae Yop Lee
Shipping: Jin-Young Jung, Yun Jeong Seo, Yang Ho Yoon, Young Jae Park
TMT: Hwan Kyoung Ko, Kwang Bae Park, Il Shin Lee

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific is annually published by Legalease, a global agency that evaluates the capacity of law firms all over the world based on various standards through a comprehensive review of submitted documents by law firms, interviews with lawyers specialized in each field, and feedback from over 300,000 clients.
 

Lee & Ko was selected as the only “Law Firm of the Year” in Korea at the Korea Law Awards 2023 hosted by the Asia Business Law Journal (ABLJ). In addition, Lee & Ko was honored with the most awards among Korean law firms as the firm was selected as one of the “Best overall law firms”, an award awarded to law firms with excellent reviews in all categories out of a total of 34 categories evaluated by ABLJ, and was awarded in a total of 25 categories including practice areas such as Corporate & Commercial, M&A, Banking & Finance, Litigation, In/Outbound Investment, Patent, Taxation, TMT, Fintech etc. 

The Asia Business Law Journal selected Lee & Ko as the law firm of the year, highlighting its success in a USD 700 million ICC arbitration case and in critical cases involving KEPCO, KHNP and Westinghouse which established Lee & Ko’s renowned position as the leading arbitration firm in the nuclear sector. 

According to ABLJ, one of Lee & ko's clients also evaluated that “Lee & Ko adeptly identified the key issues in the case, elucidated the loopholes in the opposing party’s argument, and effectively persuaded the court through compelling written and verbal articulations”.

Asia Business Law Journal, a regional law journal in Asia, has been conducting surveys on lawyers from domestic and foreign law firms and companies, and has been evaluating domestic law firms since 2021 based on performance data by category submitted by domestic law firms.

Lee & Ko was selected as an outstanding law firm in all 24 sectors (below) of ‘Asialaw Profiles 2023 (28th edition)’ for three consecutive years.

In addition to the top law firm for all 8 categories of IFLR 1000 2023 edition, the firm has also been ranked as an outstanding law firm in all 24 categories of Asialaw profiles 2023 and was recognized once again for its high level of competence as a leading law firm in Korea. The fact that Lee & Ko was rated outstanding in all sectors evaluated by Asialaw should be taken as a considerable distinction which sets them apart from other domestic law firms that have only received outstanding rankings in certain fields.

Additionally, 41 Lee & Ko professionals were named Elite practitioner/ Distinguished practitioner/ Notable practitioner/ Rising star/ Senior Statesman and these individuals were provided special recognition for their expertise in the field.
 
[Firm Rankings]

Industry Sectors
 Aviation and Shipping
 Banking and Financial Services
 Consumer Goods and Services
 Energy
 Industrials and Manufacturing
 Infrastructure
 Insurance
 Media and Entertainment
 Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences
 Real Estate
 Technology and Telecommunications

Practice Areas
 Banking and Finance
 Capital Markets
 Competition/Antitrust
 Construction
 Corporate and M&A
 Dispute Resolution
 Intellectual Property
 Investment Funds
 Labour and Employment
 Private Equity
 Regulatory
 Restructuring and Insolvency
 Tax

[Individual Rankings]
 Banking & Financial services: Hyunjoo Oh, Yeo Kyoon Yoon, Yong-Jae Chang, Woo Young Jung, Seunga Hyun
 Banking & Finance: Myoung Chul Kwak, Yeo Kyoon Yoon, Yong-Jae Chang, Woo Young Jung
 Capital Markets: Hyunjoo Oh, Seunga Hyun
 Competition/Antitrust: Hyun Chul Kim, Jeong-Ho Sun, Yong Seok Ahn, Hwan Jeong
 Corporate and M&A: Sanggon Kim, Ho Joon Moon, Kyu Wha Lee, Hyeong Gun Lee
 Dispute Resolution: Won Seok Ko, Saemee Kim, David Kim
 Energy: Hun Ko, Dong Eun Kim
 Infrastructure: Hun Ko, Dong Eun Kim
 Insurance: Jin Hong Kwon, Gidon Nam, Jinyoung Jung
 Intellectual Property: Un Ho Kim, Jae Hoon Kim
 Labour and Employment: William Kim, Hyunseok Song, Sang Hoon Lee, Chang Soo Jin
 Media and Entertainment: Kwang Bae Park
 Restructuring and Insolvency: Wan Shik Lee, Eunjai Lee, Jung Hyun Lee
 Shipping: Gidon Nam, Jinyoung Jung
 Tax: Sung Hwan Kim
 Technology and telecommunications: Hwan Kyoung Ko, Samuel (Soon-Yub) Kwon, Kwang Bae Park, Yong Seok Ahn


Asialaw Profiles is published by Asialaw, which is an affiliate of the global financial journal Euromoney, and each year Asialaw Profiles ranks law firms and professionals in the Asia-Pacific region based on law firm submissions, interviews with lawyers and clients, and independent research and announces the results.

Lee & Ko was named the Overseas Practice Law Firm of the Year at the Asia Legal Business (ALB) Korea Law Awards 2022 in recognition of its outstanding performance in the overseas market. 

Lee & Ko, based on close cooperation among the attorneys at the head office specializing in various disciplines, top-notch professionals at local offices, and other law firms located in the target countries, has promptly and accurately advised clients on a range of matters related to direct investment, M&A, advancement into the banking and financial sectors, construction/real estate development and SOC, and taxation across Vietnam and Southeast Asian regions. Our firm also provided exceptional legal services catered to each client by precisely understanding their needs for legal counsel required for all phases of their projects in diverse areas, from the initial phase of establishing structures and strategies for entering new markets to handling legal issues and the sale of assets in operating businesses in these local markets.

Notably, Lee & Ko’s Vietnam Team, working closely together as a team between the Seoul office and the Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi offices, represented recent major transactions in Vietnam, such as Lotte Property & Development’s acquisition of shares in Coralis and Meritz Securities’s acquisition of exchangeable bonds in Vingroup Joint Stock Company. This successful track record in advisory services made our firm earn the honor to be recognized as the Law Firm of the Year for this year’s awards in the overseas practice category.

The ALB Korea Law Awards is an awards ceremony in the field of law hosted by Asian Legal Business (ALB), a prestigious legal business media owned by Thomson Reuters. The winners are selected and announced annually based on the materials related to deals, in-house transactions, etc. submitted by each law firm.

Lee & Ko was selected as an outstanding law firm in all 24 sectors (below) of Asialaw Profiles 2023 for two consecutive years.
 
Industry Sectors: Aviation and Shipping, Banking and Financial Services, Consumer Goods and Services, Energy, Industrials and Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Insurance, Media and Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences, Real Estate, Technology and Telecommunications

Practice Areas: Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, Competition/Antitrust, Construction, Corporate and M&A, Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, Investment Funds, Labour and Employment, Private Equity, Regulatory, Restructuring and Insolvency, and Tax

In addition to the top law firm for all 8 categories of IFLR1000 32nd edition, the firm has also been ranked as an outstanding law firm in all 24 categories of Asialaw profiles 2023 and was recognized once again for its high level of competence as a leading law firm in Korea. The fact that Lee & Ko was rated outstanding in all sectors evaluated by Asialaw should be taken as a considerable distinction which sets them apart from other domestic law firms that have only received outstanding rankings in certain fields.

In addition, 39 Lee & Ko professionals were named Elite practitioner/ Distinguished practitioner/ Notable practitioner/ Rising star and these individuals were provided special recognition for their expertise in the field.
 
Asialaw Profiles is published by Asialaw, which is an affiliate of the global financial journal Euromoney, and each year Asialaw Profiles ranks law firms and professionals in the Asia-Pacific region based on law firm submissions, interviews with lawyers and clients, and independent research and announces the results.

Lee & Ko achieved awards in four categories by ‘Benchmark Asia-Pacific Awards 2022’.

For the category of the ‘Lawyer of the Year – South Korea’, this award was given to Lee & Ko’s attorney Pyoung Keun Song in recognition of his expertise and contribution in the area of Litigation and Arbitration. After serving as a judge for 17 years, Mr. Song joined Lee & Ko and has since led many important cases as an attorney specializing in litigation and arbitration, including the administrative appeal to reverse the corrective measures imposed against Qualcomm for its abuse of market dominance, the shareholder derivative suit against the directors of Hyundai Elevator, as well as the lawsuit requiring cancellation of administrative fine for acts of unfair intercompany transaction imposed on SK C&C. Mr. Song’s area of expertise include administrative lawsuits encompassing antitrust cases, finance and securities litigation, corporate litigation and criminal actions.

In addition, Lee & Ko was recognized for its achievements in various specialized legal fields, such as ‘Firm of the Year – South Korea’, ‘Tax Firm of the Year’, ‘Construction Firm of the Year’.

Benchmark Litigation is a world-renowned publication which highlights the fields of dispute resolution and litigation and publishes rankings based on in-depth analysis of submissions by law firms and interviews with lawyers, clients and litigation experts every year.