최근소식

November 2, 2024
The Korea Economic Daily reported in detail on the 10th M&A Forum held by Lee & Ko. Lee & Ko’s managing partner, Sanggon Kim, pointed out, “The era when lawyers only reviewed legal matters is over. Now, M&A lawyers are required to take on the role of comprehensive consultants, from formulating transaction strategies to persuading board members and dealing with regulatory authorities." The head of Lee & Ko’s private equity (PE) team, Ho Joon Moon, added, “Contract negotiations now go beyond simply reflecting the parties' agreements. Strategic advice, considering market practices and industry trends, has become essential."

On October 30, 2024, The Law Times featured an interview with Eun Young Park, Head of Lee & Ko’s International Dispute Resolution Group. During the interview, Mr. Park highlighted that, “These recent years have seen many complex dispute cases, often accompanied by penalties and investigations due to different regulatory frameworks. To address these, we have assembled experts from our existing teams across disciplines – from arbitration and litigation to trade and patent – to offer a multilayered response tailored to the nature of the case.” He further noted with an example: “When a straightforward patent case in Korea escalates into a high-stakes lawsuit in the United States or evolves into a full-scale criminal investigation, our dedicated team will readily take charge and coordinate seamlessly with other professionals, starting with 2 or 3 members but scalable up to 20 or more depending on the scale of the case. Specifically in large-scale international disputes, we aim to provide a multifaceted and timely response by establishing a new scheme that supports the efficient review and analysis of substantial volumes of documents.”

On October 28, 2024, an article ‘Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG’ by research fellow(Ph.D) Suyeon Kim was published in KBIZNEWS. 

On October 28, 2024, The Korea Economic Daily featured an interview with Eun Young Park of Lee & Ko. Mr. Park, Korea’s pioneering arbitrator and a partner who recently joined Lee & Ko this year, shared his insights, stating, “I believe the foundation of success in international dispute resolution lies in seamless dialogue and collaboration among multi-disciplinary experts.” He expressed further, “I have long aspired to build a comprehensive framework for handling international disputes at an advanced and integrated level,” noting that “Lee & Ko’s robust pool of talent provides the ideal environment to bringing this vision to life and establishing a more structured and institutionalized system for international dispute resolution.”

October 28, 2024
Ajou Business Daily reported that Lee & Ko and the Federation of Korean Industries will jointly host a seminar titled, ‘Is Strengthening Governance Regulations the Right Approach?‘ During the seminar, Attorney Kyungchun Kim will present on 'Legislative Trends and Response Strategies Regarding Directors' Duty of Care,' and Attorney Tae Jung Kim will present on 'Legislative Trends and Response Strategies Regarding Audit Committees and Independent Directors.' Research Fellow Suyeon Kim will cover 'Trends and Countermeasures Regarding Cumulative Voting and Advisory Shareholder Proposals.'
 

Lee & Ko’s Virtual Asset Regulatory and Investigation Response Team attorneys Yoon (Jay) Jongsoo, Kim Hyongkun, and Kwon Taekyoung were interviewed by EDaily on October 24, 2024. Attorney Kim stated, "As the Virtual Asset User Protection Act is newly implemented, there are many unclear aspects regarding its interpretation and scope. Until relevant precedents are established, it would be safer to conduct transactions based on legal experts' advice."

Attorney Kwon, formerly with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), mentioned, "The FSS has now acquired real-time analysis capabilities, and for virtual assets with low trading volumes, large-volume transactions can temporarily affect price movements." He added, "As a result, investors might unknowingly face investigation for unfair trading, with the risk of criminal penalties if price manipulation intent is established."

Attorney Yoon identified corporate account authorization as a key immediate concern in the virtual asset space, stating that "There are many voices from the field expressing concerns about potential breach of trust issues when individuals sell virtual assets owned by corporations."

On October 24, 2024, the Asia Today reported on refugee litigations, stating that “obtaining recognition of a refugee status in Korea through a lawsuit is as difficult as a camel going through the eye of a needle because the applicants must prove everything themselves where it is not easy to secure evidence that they were persecuted in the country where they lived, and the judgment is made based on a strict criteria so that it is likely to be unsuccessful if one thing goes wrong”. While the Asia Today mentioned Lee & Ko’s success in refugee litigations, Lee & Ko’s attorney Seok Pyo Hong stated that “most refugee litigations are also likely to fail due to a slight deviation despite consistent evidence and statements just as it is difficult to be acquitted in criminal cases”. He further added that “there are a lot of limitations in proving the evidence, since most applicants have not secured objective evidence due to urgent departure from the home country”. 

On October 24, 2024, E-Daily reported on the upcoming seminar co-hosted by Lee & Ko’s International Arbitration Group and Herbert Smith Freehills titled “The Latest Trends and Key Considerations in International Arbitration.” This insightful event will feature three expert-led sessions, presenting topics such as “various challenges that may arise when bankruptcy or rehabilitation proceedings are initiated against an arbitral party,” “the legal nature of on-demand bonds and strategic responses when a bond is called,” and “a judicial overview of anti-suit injunctions.” 

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”. 

October 4, 2024
Legal Times reported on the M&A advisory achievements of Lee & Ko, stating that “Lee & Ko has advised on a cumulative total of 71 deals amounting to a deal value of USD 30.976 billion until the third quarter, achieving a market share of 31.1% and surpassing the previously leading law firm Kim & Chang to claim the top position in terms of transaction size.”

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.