Sanghoon Han

Practice Areas

International arbitration, International Disputes

Career

Sanghoon is an arbitration partner in Lee&Ko’s International Arbitration team. He is also a Co-Chair of the International Construction Dispute Resolution Practice group within the team.

His practice focuses on dispute resolution, commercial litigation, international arbitration, construction disputes and investor-state dispute.

Sanghoon handles a wide variety of international arbitration cases, and has represented both Korean and foreign clients in arbitration proceedings conducted under a number of leading international arbitration rule systems. He has handled international arbitrations throughout the world and before major arbitral institutions. Sanghoon specializes in large-scale, complex commercial and construction disputes and regularly represents companies in disputes in Europe, the Middle East, and South East Asia. Particularly, Sanghoon also made a name for himself in the Korean international arbitration community as an investor-state dispute specialist in representing the Republic of Korea in three separate investor-state dispute matters brought by the U.S. hedge funds, Mason and Elliott, and the U.S. real estate firm, Gale Investments, respectively. Recently, he represents a Korean investor in an investor-state dispute against Vietnam. Further, before joining Lee&Ko, he was a key member of the team working on the Lone Star investor-state arbitration case, the first ever investor-state claim brought against Korea and one of the largest claims in ICSID history.

In addition to his arbitration-related practice, Sanghoon acts for a variety of clients in other areas of law. Sanghoon has extensive experience as a legal advisor on labor law, M&A, corporate governance and foreign investment matters and advises clients on legal issues relating to all facets of corporate/business operations, including incorporation, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, mergers, restructuring, liquidation and dissolution matters. Sanghoon also advises clients in international litigations involving proceedings in foreign and domestic courts.

Sanghoon is also active in the professional legal community in Korea and globally. Sanghoon’s leadership positions include the appointment as the official spokesperson for the Korean Bar Association where he served from February 2015 to October 2016. In addition, he served as the National Representative of Korea for the International Bar Association Young Lawyers’ Committee, where he worked to foster links between young lawyers in Korea and the Korean Bar Association and expands the membership of both the IBA and the IBA Young Lawyers’ Committee within Korea. Sanghoon serves on the KCAB’s International Panel of Arbitrators and has acted as an arbitrator in disputes under the rules of KCAB. Sanghoon also serves on Executive Committee of the Korean Council for International Arbitration.

Sanghoon is recognized in major publications, including as a “Lawyer of the Year in 2020 – International Arbitration” in Legal Times, with the source describing him as who “has worked on some of the biggest Investor-State Arbitration cases of all time in Korea” and “has extensive experience in international arbitration”

Sanghoon received his BA degree from Yonsei University and earned his LL.M. degree from Stanford University Law School in 2017. He is also currently pursuing graduate doctorate legal course work in international law at the Seoul National University Law School. Sanghoon is dual-qualified in civil law and common law, and regularly handles contentious work in Korean and English. He is admitted to practice law in Korea and California.

Professional Memberships

Member of California Bar and Korean Bar

Member of Management Committee for Korean Council for International Arbitration (KOCIA)

International Bar Association, Young Lawyers’ Committee, National Representative of Korea

Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Panel of arbitrators for Korean Commercial Arbitration Board

Panel of arbitrators for Asian International Arbitration Centre

Panel of arbitrators for Thai Arbitration Institute

Panel of mediator for Singapore International Mediation Centre

Publications

Construction related Claims and Loss of Profit, International Contractors Association of Korea (2022)

The Relation between Liquidated Damages and Contract Termination under English Law, International Contractors Association of Korea (2022)

GAR Investment Treaty Arbitration - South Korea / Co-author (2021)

Prohibition against Predetermination of Penalty for Breach of Contracts under the Labor Standards Act (2016)

Ordinary Wage: After the 2013 Supreme Court Decision (2014)

Labor Market Regulation Questionnaire – Republic of Korea, Doing Business, co-authored (2014, 2015)

Personal

Member of California Bar and Korean Bar