Lee & Ko

Managing Partner:Sang Gon Kim

Number of partners: 354

Number of lawyers: 694

Languages:Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese

Firm Overview:

Korea’s premier full-service law firm. Lee & Ko’s practice groups are consistently ranked among the top in each field of practice by leading Korean and international professional publications.

Practice Areas:

Anti-Corruption & Regulatory

Antitrust & Competition

Aviation

Banking & Finance

Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Corporate Restructuring

Capital Markets & Securities

Corporate & M&A

Corporate Governance

Customs

Energy

Environment

Foreign Direct Investment

Health Care & Life Science

Insurance

Intellectual Property

International Arbitration

International Trade

Labour & Employment

Litigation

Maritime & Shipping

Overseas Investment

Private Equity & Venture Capital

Privatisation

Product Liability

Real Estate & Construction

Regulatory & Compliance

Shipping & Transportation

Tax

Technology, Media & IT

White-Collar Crime

Main Areas of Practice:

Banking & Finance

■ Advised NH Investment & Securities on the bridge financing for VIG Partners’ acquisition of Viol, a KOSDAQ-listed aesthetic medical device company, including structuring and documenting a three-part facility package comprising (i) an equity bridge loan to the PEF (KRW 83 billion), (ii) an equity bridge loan to the parent SPC (KRW 154 billion), and (iii) a KRW 280 billion acquisition loan. Our work covered negotiation of the term sheet, drafting and negotiating the finance documents, coordination with the PEF’s offshore LP and counsel on cross-border issues, and management of a multi-month closing and tender-offer process, including ongoing security deliveries for over five months post-launch – extending Lee & Ko’s track record in tender-offer acquisition financings in the healthcare sector, following recent mandates on Osstem Implant (2023), Lutronic (2023–2024), and Jeisys Medical (2024).

■ Advised the mandated lead arrangers and a syndicate of Korean financial institutions on the multi-tranche acquisition financing for KKR’s purchase of SK Ecoplant’s waste-management subsidiaries – Renewus, Renewone and Renewenergy Chungbuk – for KRW 1.78 trillion. Our work included drafting and negotiating the full suite of Holdco and Opco finance documents, coordinating the collateral and covenant packages across both tiers, and managing the multi-stage closing mechanics required for a transaction executed through separate acquisition, refinancing and merger steps.

■ Advised on the KRW 5.35 trillion project financing for the Seoripul Complex Development Project—the largest real estate development financing in Korea—covering end-to-end legal support from the consortium’s 2019 bid for the former Ministry of National Defense site through acquisition and development planning, and resolving complex legal issues to structure the financing in line with newly implemented Real Estate PF Fee and Completion Guarantee Guidelines.

■ Advised Daewoo E&C on the approximately KRW 3 trillion project financing for the GTX-B PPP Project, a flagship metropolitan express railway initiative designed to link key cities across the Seoul metropolitan area at high speed. The mandate encompassed comprehensive lender-side and developer-side interface, analysis of complex PPP risk allocation, and navigation of multi-stakeholder issues involving government authorities, financial institutions, and major construction companies to achieve a bankable structure for one of Korea’s largest and most politically significant infrastructure projects.

Contact: Dong Seok Woo

Email:[email protected]

Capital Markets

■ Hanwha Life Insurance’s Overseas Subordinated Bond Issuance (2025)

■ LG Chem, Ltd. USD2,000,000,000 Exchangeable Bonds in two tranches (due 2028 and due 2030)

■ The Republic of Korea Sovereign Bonds (US$1,000,000,000) due 2029

Contact: Hyunjoo Oh

Email:[email protected]

Competition/Antitrust

■ Successfully represented the Korean Bar Association and Seoul Bar Association in the appeal of the KFTC decision, which found that the bar associations had violated the laws on unfair trade practices and advertising for regulating the use of legal tech by attorneys, to result in the Seoul High Court’s landmark decision rejecting the KFTC decision and ruling in favor of the bar associations.

■ Successfully represented CJ ENM and TVING in the KFTC’s merger review of a transaction in which CJ ENM sought to acquire control of Wavve, based on the premise of a future TVING-Wavve merger. In utilizing the newly implemented voluntary commitment procedure, the KFTC, which raised concerns about potential anticompetitive effects due to interlocking directors and the high market shares of the companies in the subscription-based OTT market, granted conditional clearance with remedies that had a minimal impact on business operations.

Contact: Hwan Jeong

Email:[email protected]

Corporate/M&A

■ Representation in acquisition of DIG Airgas by Air Liquide (Deal Value: USD 3.3 billion)

■ Representation in joint venture between EcoPro BM, SK On, Ford Motor Company to establish EcoPro CAM Canada (Deal value: USD 515 million)

Contact: Ho Joon Moon

Email:[email protected]

Dispute Resolution

■ Successfully represented Korean corporations in a dispute against a major US supplier of nuclear technology, in which the supplier alleged that our clients were not allowed to export their nuclear technology abroad. This case holds significant importance for Korea’s nuclear industry as the industry continues to grow and expand abroad under the current administration.

■ Successfully represented a Chinese gaming company against a major Korean games developer in an ICC arbitration over the developer’s failure to provide a valid license to the IP of one of the most popular MMORPG games in history, the Legend of Mir 2.The IP, being a co-owned IP, has been the subject of hundreds of disputes worldwide since the game was first launched in 2001.This case is significant as it involves the first major and highly publicized license that was granted by the Korean developer in China without the involvement of the co-owner of the IP, resulting in multiple litigations before the Chinese courts and parallel arbitrations across various institutions.The client was ultimately awarded all damages claimed in the amount of around USD 40 million.

Contact: Sanghoon Han, Jin Young Kim

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Employment & Labour

■ Represented a major manufacturing client in a high-profile Supreme Court labor dispute involving allegations of illegal worker dispatch. Multiple employees of a cafeteria food-service subcontractor claimed that instructions from the client’s nutritionist (primarily weekly menus and dietary guidelines) constituted direct control over their work methods, thereby establishing a disguised labor-dispatch relationship. The plaintiffs sought confirmation of direct employment status with the client and substantial back pay differentials equivalent to those of the client’s regular production-line employees. While the court of first instance dismissed the claims in full, the High Court reversed the decision and largely ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. On further appeal, Lee&Ko successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to overturn the High Court judgment, securing a complete victory. The Supreme Court ruling reaffirmed the validity of outsourcing non-core functions in Korea, rejected an overly expansive interpretation of “direct control” that would have rendered virtually all subcontracting arrangements vulnerable to illegal-dispatch recharacterization, and provided critical guidance for employers facing similar claims amid heightened regulatory scrutiny and the pending enactment of the so-called Yellow Envelope Act. The decision significantly reduces the risk of cascading liability for legitimate outsourcing models and stands as a binding precedent protecting reasonable business-to-business service contracts.

■ Represented a major Korean corporation in defending a disciplinary dismissal of a sales employee who was found, following an anonymous tip, confirmed through limited video surveillance near his residence to have spent an average of over four hours per day at home during working hours for nearly a month. The employee challenged the termination as invalid on grounds that the surveillance violated his privacy rights and simultaneously filed a criminal complaint against the company. Lee&Ko successfully defended the company at all three court levels, culminating in the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the employee’s final appeal. The courts unanimously held that minimally invasive, targeted surveillance conducted solely to verify serious misconduct falls within the employer’s legitimate investigative authority and does not render otherwise lawful disciplinary action invalid. This precedent-setting decision strengthens employers’ ability to investigate and address attendance violations by outside sales personnel, clarifies the permissible scope of workplace investigations under Korean privacy and labor law, and shields reasonable disciplinary measures from invalidation even when employees resort to parallel criminal complaints.

Contact: Sang Hoon Lee, William Kim

Email:[email protected],[email protected]

Intellectual Property

■ Successfully represented Coway, the market leader, in an 11-year long patent war with a competitor involving ice water purifier patent by prevailing before the appellate court and Supreme Court.

■ Successfully secured an appellate decision on behalf of Lonati, which marks a major shift in Korean patent law, reasonably relaxing the territoriality principle to ensure effective patent protection in the era of global online commerce and providing clear criteria for addressing online patent infringement

Contact: Hwan Sung Park

Email:[email protected]

Shipping & Transportation

■ A globally recognized leader in the offshore wind power industry has been developing an offshore wind farm project near Dadaepo Port in Busan. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries granted only conditional approval, citing failure to meet the required safety clearance distance from nearby shipping routes. Lee & Ko conducted in-depth research into relevant laws and international offshore wind farm precedents. With offshore wind projects increasingly located near coastal zones, the standard for safety clearance distances has emerged as a critical issue. Ultimately, the Ministry accepted our objection, allowing the project to proceed. This landmark decision is expected to shape future regulatory standards in Korea, as many foreign investors had previously been unable to overcome similar hurdles.

■ Advised a Korean cable production company called Taihan Cable & Solution (“Client”) intending to purchase and import a cable-laying vessel called MV Spirit (“Vessel”) from a Dutch owner called Boskalis. Lee & Ko has provided the client with comprehensive scope of advices relating to the purchase: deal structure, sale & purchase of the Vessel, inception of cargo insurance and hull insurance, registration of the Vessel in Korea, license issue under Korean Marine Transportation Act, bareboat charter and etc. Thanks to our expertise and experience, the Client successfully concluded this deal. This deal serves as a crucial stepping stone for the Client, providing a foundation upon which they can explore new business avenues, such as offshore cable laying projects or the development of offshore wind power plants.

Contact: Jin-Young Jung, Yang-Ho Yoon

Email:[email protected]; [email protected]

Tax & Customs

■ Successfully represented Lotte Retailers on tax dispute against the National Tax Service (“NTS”). Lotte Retailers is one of the biggest and leading retailers in Korea. Like many big Korean retailers, they operate a points/discount program through which customers receive points or coupons upon their purchases at the retailers for which they later get discounts on their purchase of products. The NTS claimed that a proportion of these discounts should be included as the tax basis of Lotte Retailers for VAT purposes. Drawing on extensive experience in similar disputes, including a case in 2016 which Lee & Ko obtained the Supreme Court’s unanimously favorable decision to exclude similar discounts from retailers’ VAT tax base, Lee & Ko advised Lotte Retailers in seeking the cancellation of the VAT assessment related to its point/discount program. Parallel litigation is ongoing for several major Korean retailers. On July 11, 2025, the appellate court rendered its decision, in which Lee & Ko secured a victory on appeal after the case had been unsuccessful at first instance under the representation of a different law firm. The matter is now pending before the Supreme Court for final adjudication.

Even prior to its final resolution, the economic effect of the refunded tax has a pivotal impact on the client’s business operation. This case is also of broader legal significance, as it challenges the NTS’ attempt to impose VAT on the retailers’ points and discount program notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling—an attempt made through the amendment of the relevant presidential enforcement decree. The fact that Lee & Ko, as the representative of retailers who led the Supreme Court to make such decision, is also representing Lotte Retailers has also significance. As the discounts provided to customers by Korean retailers are estimated to amount approximately over hundred billion (in KRW), the outcome of this case will have a huge impact on many companies as well as the NTS.

■ Successfully obtained deferral of tax payment through the Mutual Agreement Procedure (“MAP”). A Korea-based contract development company for a well-known global game developer faced a significant tax assessment after the NTS misinterpreted its business model and economic nature during a tax investigation. In response, Lee & Ko was engaged to represent the company in the pre-assessment appeal, the MAP, and an appeal to the tax tribunal.

Beyond defending the taxpayer’s position, Lee & Ko successfully secured a tax payment deferral by initiating the MAP before the payment due date, a legally protected avenue that is rarely granted due to the practical challenges of starting MAP within such a tight timeframe and timely providing collateral or financial guarantee that is satisfactory to the NTS. Despite these difficulties, Lee & Ko leveraged its deep expertise and experience in international tax and close engagement with competent authorities to expedite the process. Such successful tax payment deferral cases are extremely rare in Korea, and this underscores Lee & Ko’s strong market position as a leading international tax practice.

Contact: Tom Kwon, Ok Hyun Ma

Email:[email protected],[email protected]

White Collar Crime

■ Lee & Ko took over the case of HSBC's approximately KRW 16 billion short-selling violation, successfully presenting well-grounded arguments on key issues, which resulted in the court issuing a non-guilty verdict in the first criminal prosecution case since the introduction of the relevant penal regulation, establishing a high precedential value.

■ Lee & Ko successfully defended Mirae Asset Life Insurance against charges of alleged unfair internal transactions benefitting related parties. Despite an earlier finding of unfairness in a related administrative lawsuit, Lee & Ko secured a not-guilty verdict by proving the transaction was a reasonable business decision and that no specific evidence of unfair profits existed, setting a significant precedent for the required degree of proof under the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act.

Contact:Tae Yop Lee, Kiwan Park

Email:[email protected], [email protected]