最新消息

March 3, 2021: The Aju Economic Business Daily reported that Lee & Ko is strengthening its Antitrust Criminal Investigation Team by aggressively recruiting talent. The news report read, “In February, Lee & Ko recruited Su Jin Jung, an experienced antitrust judge, to bolster is criminal and civil litigation teams” and “In addition, Lee & Ko has recently recruited a former KFTC director and deputy director, and is working on hiring two former senior-level prosecutors with expertise in antitrust.”

On March 8, 2023, Chosun Biz reported on a legal victory achieved by Lee & Ko. Lee & Ko won on behalf of Jeju Air in a suit for damages in an amount of KRW 23 billion, filed against Eastar Jet and others for their failure to close an M&A transaction. Chosun Biz said, "The KRW 23 billion is double the amount of the security deposit (KRW 11.5 billion) initially paid to Eastar Jet by Jeju Air," emphasizing, "Lee & Ko secured the court’s order to pay double compensation, an uncommon remedy in M&A-related lawsuits”. This victory has been led by, to name a few, Jaeheon Park, Yongjoon Yoon and Eunah Kim of Lee & Ko.

March 2, 2023. The Money Today reported that Young Hun Song, the former Executive Director of the Korea Exchange (KRX), has joined the firm as a senior advisor. Until recently, Mr. Song served as the head director at KRX’s KOSPI market division, and is a widely recognized expert with extensive experience in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. 

February 16, 2023.  The Money Today reported that Lee & Ko was named the “Best M&A Legal Adviser” at the 20th Money Today IB Awards hosted by Money Today, Korea’s leading media outlet in the field of finance and economy, for its accomplishments in providing legal advice and consultation on high-profile transactions.  “Lee & Ko stood out for its outstanding performance in advising on large-scale transactions, such as Samsung BioLogics' acquisition of Biogen’s stake in the Samsung Bioepis joint venture, GS Consortium's acquisition of Hugel, and LS Group’s acquisition of a large portion of a stake in LS Nikko Copper,” Money Today reported.

Kim Un-Ho, a partner of Lee & Ko, has been appointed as the chairman of the Korean Intellectual Property Lawyers’ Association (KIPLA), published by the Law Times on February 14, 2023.  The Law Times said that Mr. Kim as “a lawyer with expertise in the intellectual property law has made a significant contribution to establishing new legal principles in the IP rights area, having actively engaged and advised in diverse landmark cases including the smartphone patent wars between Samsung and Apple, elastomer patent litigation between LG Chem and Mitsui Chemicals, trademark fight between Lacoste and Crocodile which is well-known as ‘Crocodile Battle,’ and unfair competition prevention case for Haeundae Amso Galbi (Korean beef ribs) restaurant.”  Meanwhile, Kwak Jaewoo who is a partner of Lee & Ko was also appointed as the secretary general of KIPLA.

On January 4, 2023, Legal Times published a detailed report on Lee & Ko’s seminar entitled “Changes in Intellectual Property Landscape in 2022 and Responses,” which was hosted by the firm’s IP Practice Group on December 1, 2022.  Noting that “Lee & Ko’s IP Practice Group’s seminar series marks its 8th anniversary and is a forum for identifying overall trends in intellectual property law and discussing how to respond to these changes in practice,” Legal Times provided a summary of the major topics for each session. 

On January 3, 2023, the Law Times reported that Lee & Ko has recruited Jae Cheol Yoo, the former Director of the NTS Jungbu Regional Office, as a Senior Advisor. Mr. Yoo began his career serving as a tax official at the National Tax Service, followed by the Tax Office of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office, as a Tax Officer at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in New York, as Director General of Investigation Bureau 1 of Busan Regional Tax Office, as Director General of Investigation Bureau 4 of Seoul Regional Tax Office, as Director of the Corporate Tax Department of the NTS, before being appointed as the 21st Director of the NTS Jungbu Regional Office. The Tax and Customs Group at Lee & Ko is thrilled to announced the addition of Mr. Yoo to our team, and we eagerly anticipate the valuable insights and expertise he will bring to the table, enhancing our already formidable capabilities in this field. 

On January 2, 2023, IB Tomato carried an article on its recent interview with Hyunjoo Oh of Lee & Ko.  Ms. Oh, with more than 20 years of experience in capital markets, currently heads the capital markets team at Lee & Ko.  She emphasized that “as the capital market faces very difficult times, lawyer’s “problem-solving” ability becomes ever more important”.  She further noted that “we have a market that is deeply retrenched where borrowing is difficult to obtain and disputes over losses are occurring with greater frequency as payment defaults increases”.  She stressed that “in these uncertain times, lawyers need to be meticulous and be able to come up with the most rational response to unclear points”.

On January 2, 2023, a New Year’s message from Lee & Ko’s attorney and executive managing director Sang Gon Kim was introduced in Legal Times. In his message, Mr. Kim noted, “Greeting the Year of the Black Rabbit, we hope that this year will be the best time for you to take a huge leap forward like a lively rabbit to start anew while moving past the discouraging days of Covid-19 and enjoy remarkable achievements to come.” And he added, “Lee & Ko also pledges that, with steadfast commitment to fundamental principles and justness, we will exert our utmost to carry out our roles and responsibilities to facilitate a greater development in the legal service industry.”

2022.12.30. An article on major legal and tax issues in Vietnam written by Soonsung Lee (Lee & Ko) and the other professionals(writers) was published on the website of KOTRA Overseas Market News. In the article, Soonsung Lee noted, “In 2023, business diversification is expected to include not only manufacturing and trade, but also distribution, service, and cultural industries, which are major investment fields for Korean companies entering Vietnam.” and “The cases of Korean companies and investors entering Vietnam, which temporarily put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, are also expected to increase in certain business fields.” The writers summarized major legal issues that could affect Korean companies investing in Vietnam categorized by the general laws and tax laws to be implemented in 2023.

Dong A Ilbo, in its December 12, 2022 article, featured an in-depth article on Lee & Ko's Financial Compliance Team.  The newspaper wrote that "Lee & Ko’s Financial Compliance Team has achieved remarkable results in all areas of financial compliance, including banking, securities, asset management, accounting and digital finance compliance cases, and is grabbing the attention of major players in the legal and financial industries."  The newspaper article further noted that "the team boasts 35+ professionals, many of them the nation’s best talents in financial compliance with prior experience n FSS, FSC, Korea Exchange, Personal Information Protection Committee."

On December 9, 2022, the Edaily reported on Lee & Ko’s winning of a lawsuit concerning delisting of Wemix coins. In a lawsuit involving Wemix Pte. Ltd’s request for a provisional injunction on suspension of validity of Wemix coins’ transaction support termination (delisting), filed against Korea’s four major virtual assets exchanges – Dunamu, Korbit, Coinone and Bithumb, Lee & Ko’s Finance IT Litigation Team won the case while representing the three largest exchanges, Dunamu, Korbit and Coinone. In particular, Lee & Ko’s Finance IT Litigation Team has been demonstrating its competence in cases involving virtual assets and producing successful results, such as the case of provisional injunction on suspension of validity of AnimalGO and Pica Project’s transaction support termination, which acted as a precedent in the current case. Sang Gon Kim, Lee & Ko’s executive managing director, remarked that “as a result, Lee & Ko’s Finance IT Litigation Team continues to maintain its win rate of 100% in cases involving provisional injunction on suspension of validity.”