Recent Developments

On October 7, 2024, the Korea Economic Daily reported that Lee & Ko newly launched the International Dispute Resolution Group, which will be under the leadership of Attorney Eun Young Park, who served as a former Vice President of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). The Korea Economic Daily stated that “Lee & Ko launched the International Dispute Resolution Group to provide comprehensive and integrated services in response to various international disputes including international arbitration and international litigation, and added Eun Young Park, an expert in international dispute resolution, to strengthen its capacity to handle international disputes”. It further mentioned that “Mr. Park will lead the firm’s International Dispute Resolution Group with expertise and experience in resolving a broad spectrum of international disputes, including international arbitration, over nearly three decades”. 

On October 4, 2024, the E-daily reported that Lee & Ko won 10 awards in 9 areas including ‘Asia Firm of the Year’ and ‘South Korea Firm of the Year’ in the 'Asialaw Awards 2024'. The E-daily reported that in addition to “winning both the ‘Asia Firm of the Year’ and ‘South Korea Firm of the Year’ Awards for the second consecutive year”, Lee & Ko also won the ‘Competition/Antitrust Firm of the Year’, the ‘Regulatory Firm of the Year’ awards and was selected as one of the ‘Impact Deals and Cases’ for LG Chem’s issuance of $2 Billion Exchangeable Bonds (Capital Market) and claims for damages due to Google’s violation of the Fair Trade Act (Google v. KFTC) (Litigation). Furthermore, the firm was recognized for its outstanding competence in various practice areas Lee & Ko attorney Hyun Joo Oh was selected as ‘Capital Markets Lawyer of the Year’, attorney Suruyn Kim as ‘South Korea Female Lawyer of the Year’, attorney Jeong Yoon Choi as ‘Client Choice Awards-South Korea Lawyer of the Year’ and attorney Minhoo (Steve) Kim as ‘Client Choice Awards-South Korea Honourable Mention Lawyer’. 

On October 2, 2024, E-daily reported on the upcoming a seminar hosted by Lee & Ko titled “2024 Second Half Seminar for Efficient Preparations in the Field of Industrial Relations.” This seminar will provide an in-depth exploration of key issues of interest to businesses, including the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the extension of the retirement age, the expanded application of the Labor Standards Act, and workplace bullying and sexual harassment.

On September 24, 2024, Yonhap News reported on Lee & Ko attorney Ko Hwan Kyoung's participation in the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information Broadcasting, and Communications Committee public hearing on the 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Basic Law'. Attorney Ko stated, "In a situation where we need to apply rapidly developing AI technology in the field and incorporate it into existing services and products to secure global competitiveness, a strong regulatory framework makes it difficult to prepare for competition or timely address risks associated with the technology."

On September 24, 2024, The Bell published an interview with Jinhong Kwon, an attorney at Lee & Ko. “Lee & Ko has been active in the field of non-performing loans (NPLs) since the implementation of the Asset Securitization Act of Korea, and Jinhong Kwon, a member of the Banking & Finance Group at Lee & Ko, is known as an NPL expert within the firm.” said the article. ”He joined Lee & Ko in the early part of 2001, when the Korean economy was emerging from the foreign exchange crisis, and participated in numerous normalization transactions.  He is also noted for having helped create the first Korean language loan asset purchase agreements (LSPA) at a time when English was the dominant contract language.”

On September 22, 2024, Lee & Ko's Nuclear Team was on the Korea Economic Daily News. The Korea Economic Daily News reported that "Lee & Ko has been advising on most of the government-led nuclear projects starting with the KEDO project in the 1990s. and is currently advising on the Dukovany project of the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia nuclear project and Romania nuclear project, and is also representing KEPCO and KHNP in the intellectual property dispute against Westinghouse, USA under the leadership of Moon Sung Lee.

On September 12, 2024, EDAILY reported on the launch of Lee & Ko’s expanded Virtual Asset Regulation and Investigation Response Team. To provide leading integrated legal services based on a deep understanding of virtual asset-related regulations, inspections, investigations, and prosecutions, Lee & Ko has established a team of about 40 experts from criminal law, financial regulation, and digital finance fields. This expansion aims to strengthen the firm’s capabilities in addressing the complex legal landscape surrounding virtual assets.

On August 7, 2024, Lee&Ko's Regulatory & Government Affairs (RGA) Solutions Group was introduced in the Korea Law Times. "Lee&Ko's RGA Solutions Group, which provides legal advice and consulting services by expanding and reorganizing its legal consulting team, is led by professionals such as Woo Yoon-keun, Esq, third- term congressman of the National Assembly who served as the chairman of the National Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee and the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Mr. Jin Jeong-ku, who served as the chief of staff of committees and the   Deputy Secretary-General for Legislative Affairs at the National Assembly."

On August 3, 2024, an article by attorneys Sujin Jung and Jang Hyun Ka was published in EToday. In the article, they explain that when the amended Personal Information Protection Act took effect on September 15 of last year, the requirement to change user accounts to dormant status after a certain period of inactivity was abolished. Consequently, online businesses are now free to establish their own policies for changing user accounts to dormant status. This is why various online businesses have recently been sending emails or SMS messages informing their users about the deactivation of dormancy status.

On July 29, 2024, SBS Biz featured comments from Woo-Young Choi, an attorney at Lee & Ko. With the enforcement of the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users, those caught engaging in unfair trading practices now face a minimum of one year in prison or fines of 3 to 5 times the illicit gains. If profits exceed KRW 5 billion, offenders could receive sentences of 5 years or more. 

Regarding these penalties, Choi explained, “It’s not just imprisonment; offenders can receive both prison time and fines.” He elaborated, “For instance, if someone made KRW 10 billion illegally, they don’t simply pay back KRW 30 billion. The original KRW 10 billion is confiscated, and they face an additional fine of KRW 30 to 50 billion on top of that.”
 

On July 28, 2024, DigitalTimes featured comments from Jongsoo (Jay) Yoon, a partner at Lee & Ko. As the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users comes into effect, strengthening regulatory oversight and sanctions, experts anticipate a surge in related legal disputes. Yoon, who heads Lee & Ko’s Virtual Asset Team, commented, “We've already seen an increase in requests for advisory services on interpreting the Act’s provisions and understanding its practical scope.” He further predicted, “With the Act now in effect, we expect to see growing demand for both compliance advisory services and litigation support.”

On July 10, 2024, the Law Times reported that large law firms are also reorganizing their orgaizations by hiring experts as amendments to the Capital Market Act have come into effect since the beginning of this year.  The newspaper introduced Lee & Ko’s Capital Market Center as an example. “Lee & Ko is responding by creating the Capital Market Center,” the newspaper said, “The Center includes Kwon Taekyung, a former deputy director of the Special Investigation Division of the Financial Supervisory Service, Kim Hyunggeun, who was in charge of launching the Joint Investigation Team for Securities and Financial Crimes, and Kwon Soongun, who handled related cases at the Seoul Central District Court.”