Lee & Ko

Managing Partner: Sang Gon Kim
Number of partners: 320
Number of lawyers: 670
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
Compliance 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
Tax
Technology, Media & IT
White-Collar Crime

Main Areas of Practice: 

Competition/Antitrust:
■ Representation of a leading semiconductor company in the investigation of abuse of bargaining position towards a leading smart mobile manufacturer. Application for consent order was approved; representation is ongoing in the consent order process.
■ Successful representation of leading shipping companies in a series of KFTC’s cartel investigations for several routes, resulting in exemption of all administrative fines for conducts in certain routes; ongoing representation in subsequent administrative appeals.

Contact: Hwan Jeong
Email: [email protected]

Banking & Finance:
■ Financing for Korea Consortium’s acquisition of 15 LNG carriers for QatarEnergy LNG Project
■ Successful Defense of Market-making Companies from the Attempted Sanctions and Monetary Penalties by Korean Financial Regulator

Contacts: Woo Young Jung, Yeo Kyoon Yoon
Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Capital Markets=:
■ Korea Development Bank USD1,450,000,000 Notes and EUR500,000,000 2.625% Notes (Approx. USD2,000,000,000)
■ KEXIM USD1,500,000,000 Green Bonds under GMTN Programme

Contact: Hyunjoo Oh
Email: [email protected]

Corporate/M&A: 

■ Representation in acquisition of Hugel by SPC formed by CBC Group, Mubadala, GS Group, and IMM Private Equity from Bain Capital (Ireland) (Deal Value: USD 1.5 billion)
■ Representation in establishment of joint venture between LG Energy Solution and Stellantis (Netherlands) (Deal Value: USD 2.9 billion)

Contact: Hyun Tae Kim
Email: [email protected]

Dispute Resolution: 

■ Representing the Republic of Korea in two high-profile ISDS cases totaling approximately USD 1 billion brought by global investment companies
■ Representing the chairman and CEO of a Korean conglomerate in a USD 900 million ICC arbitration brought by foreign investors after receiving a favorable award in a previous arbitration raised by the same foreign investors with practically identical requests.

Contacts: Sungwoo (Sean) Lim, Robert W Wachter
Emails: [email protected],[email protected]

Employment & Labour: 

■ Successful representation of one of Korea’s largest stockholder of pipes, tubes, plates and shape steels with business exports globally in a 5-year landmark Supreme Court case whereby the Supreme Court held for the first time in nearly a decade, to uphold a layoff termination.In doing so, employers can more confidently review their business and possible layoffs, knowing that the law will be fairly and equally applied to them if they follow the measures prescribed in the law for a layoff.
■ Successful and effective lead support for a comprehensive internal investigation for alleged workplace harassment for a global medical and pharmaceutical company that involved one of the most senior directors – balancing the various interests including the need for a prompt and objective investigation, commercial objectives, risks of retaliation, and potential escalation.

Contacts: Sang Hoon Lee, William Kim
Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Tax & Customs:
■ Successfully represented major Korean insurance companies, including Dongbu Insurance, in tax litigation seeking the cancellation of an Education Tax assessment of more than USD 110 million.Lee & Ko successfully convinced the district and appellate courts that the Education Tax base should not include the liability reserves that expired, namely the amounts relating to insurance benefits paid for certain losses.The case is currently before the Supreme Court.As the tax amount at issue is very large, we expected the final decision to major impact in the Insurance industry.
■ Effectively advised Biogen, Inc., a publicly traded U.S. biotech company, on various tax issues (including pre-deal structuring, tax-efficient exit and tax ruling) with respect to Biogen’s sale of its interest in a Korean biosimilar JV.This was one of the biggest M&A deals in recent years (US $2.25 billion).

Contacts: Jay Shim, Ok Hyun Ma
Emails: [email protected],[email protected]

Intellectual Property:
■ Successful representation of Viiv Healthcare Company and Shionogi & Co. Ltd. (whose shares are owned by GlaxoSmithKlen, the global healthcare company) in patent infringement and damages actions against Gilead Science Korea, whereby the two claimed that Gilead Science Korea’s Biktarvy infringed patents related to Dolutegravir, Viiv and Shionogi’s anti-HIV medication. (The case concluded with a global settlement in all litigating jurisdictions with a favorable outcome to the clients.)
■ Successful representation of Coway, the No.1 water purifier company in Korea, in patent infringement and invalidation actions, against Chungho, the industry second mover, which involved a request for compensation of damages totaling over KRW 50 billion, a sum so unprecedented that this dispute was characterized as the “water purifier war” in the media coverage

Contact: Hwan Sung Park
Email: [email protected]

White Collar Crime:
■ Successful defense on newly adopted Serious Accident Punishment Act (SAPA) cases for the nation’s largest construction company, an iron manufacturing company and a chemical company, including the very first case SAPA applied.
■ Successful defense on a number of criminal cases in the areas of cryptocurrency, including a case where Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act applied, a case involving the nation’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and the Terra-Luna crash case which resulted in the worldwide impact.

Contacts: Changhee Suh, Dong Seong Nam
Emails: [email protected], [email protected]