Lee & Ko is pleased to announce that Kiri Yi, partner in the firm's Arbitration & Litigation Group, has been recognized on the “Asia Top 30 Litigators 2026” list by Asian Legal Business (ALB), a premier legal publication, in acknowledgment of his exceptional expertise and record of bringing major disputes to favorable resolution, most notably the landmark Pohang earthquake state liability litigation.
Thomson Reuters’ ALB annually selects attorneys across the Asia-Pacific region who have delivered outstanding results in high-stakes litigation. This recognition reflects his exceptional expertise in complex, high-stakes disputes on the international stage.
Prior to joining Lee & Ko, Mr. Yi served nineteen years on the bench at the Seoul Central District Court, Seoul High Court, Suwon District Court, and other courts nationwide. That judicial experience laid the foundation for a practice covering corporate criminal defense, international litigation, product liability, administrative law, and M&A and management rights disputes. His engineering background and command of foreign languages uniquely position him to handle matters characterized by the intersection of technical complexity and cross-border dimensions.
Mr. Yi’s standout achievement was the Pohang earthquake state liability litigation, in which he prevailed on appeal, overturning the first-instance judgment and obtaining dismissal of all plaintiffs' claims. He subsequently secured a favorable outcome in a class action requiring deep technical fluency in smartphone technology and prevailed in a criminal matter centered on complex capital markets transactions. These results underscore his mastery of both litigation strategy and courtroom advocacy in matters of the highest complexity.