LAB Partners

Number of partners: 5
Number of lawyers: 16+
Languages: English, Korean, Japanese

Firm Overview:
LAB Partners is a premier boutique law firm established by partners from the top law firms in Korea. LAB Partners provides a one-stop service in all major practice areas. The firm's combination of corporate expertise, and vast experience in advising on a wide variety of finance transactions, make it uniquely qualified to act as legal advisor for multinational corporations and financial companies. The firm's partners have decades of experience and are regarded as leading practitioners in their fields. The diverse expertise of its partners enables the firm to provide a full range of services by providing proven commercial acumen and market leading insight. As a testament to such efforts, LAB Partners was recognised as ‘Boutique Law Firm of the Year’ by Thomson Reuters Asian Legal Business and was named a ‘Leading Law Firm’ by the Legal Times.

Main Areas of Practice:

Corporate/M&A:
LAB Partners' Corporate/M&A team is composed of lawyers with expertise in M&A, joint ventures, corporate governance, general corporate matters, foreign exchange regulations, private equity funds and venture capital. The extensive experience, know-how and in-depth knowledge of the firm's Corporate/M&A team lawyers allow clients to benefit from optimum deal structures, custom-tailored to meet clients’ goals. As one of the firm's clients commented, the team is known for “bringing commercial insight and business acumen to the table”. The team culture of agility and efficiency is akin to that of private equity funds, which is something clients cannot expect from larger firms. LAB Partners' Corporate/M&A team is highly regarded by clients for providing a seamless transactional advisory experience, starting from tax-efficient structuring of transactions to successful closings, while ensuring protection against any potential legal risks along the way.

Finance & Capital Markets:
The Finance team represents major financial institutions in various financial transactions including structured finance, project finance, acquisition finance, capital markets and IPOs. The Finance team, consisting of lawyers recognised as the leading lawyers by the media, with in-house counsel experience in banking and in the securities and asset management industry, allows its clients to take advantage of its integrated expertise in transaction execution, regulatory matters and litigation, in an optimally efficient manner. The Finance team led by Young Hee Jo recently advised Citibank in relation to the migration of numerous securitisation and capital markets transactions, where the Bank of New York Mellon previously had been involved in various capacities but has exited the Korean market.

Labour & Employment:
LAB Partners provides optimal legal services in all aspects of labour law ranging from employment policies, HR systems, employment contracts, benefits, early retirement and salary peak systems, to collective bargaining and labour union relations. With its client-oriented approach and negotiation skills, the firm frequently achieves successful outcomes with respect to any complex labour and employment issues. The firm routinely handles labour disputes, collective bargaining agreements, workplace harassment, employee termination and workplace safety and health issues. Its clients include a US software company, a foreign automotive company, a multinational electronic components company and Korean conglomerates.

TMT & Data Privacy:
The Technology, Media, Telecommunications (TMT) and Data Privacy team represents foreign and domestic clients on a wide range of issues, including licensing and regulatory matters, data privacy audits, data security certification and trade secrets. LAB Partners is the only boutique law firm that has been designated as a Korean Data Privacy Representative for an overseas online company conducting business in Korea. Having assisted numerous multinational corporations in their challenge of reconciling global internal policies with stringent requirements under Korean laws, LAB Partners is skilled at finding optimal legal solutions for multinational corporations to meet their business needs. Its clients include a multinational social media service, US software companies, US medical device companies, AI companies, e-commerce companies, OTT media service providers, cryptocurrency exchanges, online platform companies, hardware manufacturers and mobile technology companies.

Litigation:
The Litigation team is particularly renowned for M&A related litigation and disputes between stockholders, including establishing hostile M&A related takeover and defence strategies and injunctions of shareholder meetings. The firm is also recognised for financial institution related litigation regarding securities, investment trusts, PEFs, etc., civil and criminal litigation related to short-swing profits, insider trading and fraudulent trading. The Litigation team has successfully represented clients in labour and employment related disputes regarding dismissal, suspension and executive retirement.