October 2020. Yoon & Yang LLC announced the recent hires of three foreign attorneys, Seung-Kook Synn, Sung Uk Park, and S. Janet Lee to reinforce its global capabilities in M&A practice. They have extensive hands-on experiences either at the global law firm or at a major conglomerate in South Korea, and the hires will bolster the cross-border capabilities of the firm’s M&A team.
In September 2020, Seung-Kook Synn, former general counsel of SK Group affiliates joined Yoon & Yang’s mergers and acquisitions practice as a senior foreign attorney. Mr. Synn obtained degrees from Cornell Law School (LL.M.) and Vanderbilt Law School (J.D.) in the US. Before joining the firm, Mr. Synn spent more than 30 years as a strategic practitioner at SK, one of the largest conglomerates in Korea. As Senior Vice President of SK Hynix and General Counsel of SK Energy and SK Telecom, he oversaw major global legal affairs including in the areas of M&A, antitrust, intellectual property and litigation. Notably, he oversaw SK Group’s major corporate transactions including: (i) SK Telecom’s acquisition of Shinsegi Telecom, one of the largest M&A deals in Korean telecommunications industry; (ii) SK Telecom’s joint venture with Earthlink to establish a mobile phone company in the US; and (iii) SK Innovation’s spin-off establishing its subsidiaries. Given his leadership experience at a major conglomerate in Korea, Mr. Synn is equipped to provide practical solutions and guidance on complex business problems in a cross-border context. Mr. Synn is a member of the New York bar and was recognized as Asia’s Most Dynamic Corporate Counsel by Asian Legal Business in 2009.
In July 2020, the firm hired Sung Uk Park from Kim & Chang as a senior foreign attorney to strengthen the firm’s M&A practice. Mr. Park is a member of the New York bar and his primary area of expertise includes both inbound and outbound merger and acquisitions, private equity, fund formation and disputes and investigations relating to foreign direct investments involving multinational corporations. Prior to joining Yoon & Yang, Mr. Park was at the New York and Hong Kong offices of Allen & Overy, the New York office of Schulte Roth & Zabel and Kim & Chang of Korea. He received his J.D from Harvard Law School and A.B (in History and Economics) from Brown University. Throughout his career, Mr. Park has been actively involved in a number of notable M&A transactions, including advising a publicly-listed Korean game company in its acquisition of a U.S. game company, a global private equity fund’s acquisition and subsequent sale of a Korean manufacturing company, a global private equity fund’s purchase of a majority share of a US automotive finance company, and a sovereign wealth fund in its investment of a Korean construction company. Furthermore, Mr. Park has recently been recognized as a Notable practitioner in M&A and Private Equity practices by IFLR1000 (2020 and 2021), and The A-List: Korea’s Top 100 Lawyers by Asia Business Law Journal in 2019.
In April 2020, the firm also hired another M&A lawyer, S. Janet Lee, who is a member of the Massachusetts and New York bars. Her areas of practice include negotiated mergers and acquisitions, general corporate governance, private equity, foreign investments, joint ventures, health care transactions, takeover defense and securing stakeholder interests in contested situations. Prior to joining Yoon & Yang, Ms. Lee worked at Skadden Arps as an associate attorney, and FLEXRE Group as general counsel. Ms. Lee has hands-on experience advising on large-scale M&A transactions, as large as in excess of USD 100 billion in deal value, and is receiving favorable feedback as a rising star in the field.
As part of the Corporate Group, Yoon & Yang’s M&A team is comprised of 29 partners and 75 associates. The team provides various legal services related to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity and foreign direct investments. The team advises clients seamlessly throughout transactions from transaction structuring, due diligence, negotiating and drafting agreements, closing to post-closing integration. Recently, the firm is advising Korean Air in its sales of in-flight catering business for KRW 990 billion (approximately USD 872 million). The firm was also awarded “Representative M&A Transaction of the Year” and “Best Transnational M&A Transaction of the Year” at the Taiwan M&A Awards 2019 for its work in advising on Taiwanese Uni-President Enterprises Corp.’s acquisition of Woongjin Foods. Additionally, International Financial Law Review (IFLR)1000, a renowned law firm ranking publication praised Yoon & Yang’s M&A team as follows: “Yoon & Yang is a true facilitator who finds win-win strategies in M&A transactions and helps to successfully complete […] M&A deals”; “[w]hen it comes to time management and ability [to give] one-stop service, Yoon & Yang's M&A team is second to none and is unrivalled by other firms”; “[e]xcellent communication and clear, comprehensive advice on the matter.”
About Yoon & Yang
Since its establishment in 1989, Yoon & Yang has been one of Korea’s premier full-service law firms, providing comprehensive legal solutions to clients around the world in all areas of legal practice. With its two offices in Vietnam, the Tashkent office in Uzbekistan, and a desk office in Jakarta, Indonesia, the firm employs more than 440 professionals and has a strong client base, including large domestic corporations and numerous multinational businesses.