Seong Jin Bae

Practice Areas

Insolvency & Restructuring

Finance · Capital Markets · Private Equity

Financial Regulation

Financial Disputes

Bankruptcy Litigation

Insurance

Insurance Disputes

Insurance Regulation

D&O and Professional Liability

Marine / Airline Insurance & Reinsurance

Insurance Company Audits

Insurance Business Establishment & Operation

Insurance Company M&A

Insurance Company Listing

Product Liability & Consumer Claims

Commercial Disputes

Career

Mr. Seong Jin Bae heads the Litigation Practice at JIPYONG. Mr. Bae is a leading practitioner in the areas of securities, bank, insurance, bankruptcy and restructuring. Mr. Bae is one of the highest-ranked litigators in Korea and an authoritative commentator on bankruptcy and corporate restructuring laws.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Mr. Bae has distinguished himself through in-depth advocacy in large-scale disputes related to investment losses from financial investment products. His representative cases include litigation involving private equity funds such as ship funds, overseas real estate funds, and overseas trade funds; litigation concerning specific money trusts into which derivative-linked securities such as ELS and DLS were incorporated as trust assets; litigation over investment losses related to ABCPs backed by overseas guaranteed bonds as underlying assets; and disputes concerning supplemental funding for overseas solar power project financing. In addition, he has demonstrated outstanding capabilities in areas such as disputes over the mis-selling of financial investment products and inter-financial institution disputes related to corporate workouts.

Since successfully representing Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company in 2003 in a complex litigation involving an automobile loan insurance claim that fiercely contested key issues in insurance law, Mr. Bae has maintained a high success rate in insurance disputes. He also provides legal advisory services to major domestic insurance companies and foreign reinsurance companies.

Mr. Bae has an unparalleled reputation for successfully resolving highly complex legal challenges. He has successfully litigated numerous landmark cases. Mr. Bae represented Hanyang Co., Ltd. during its bankruptcy proceedings and successfully obtained the first-ever court decision in Korea approving the abolishment of bankruptcy proceedings by agreement. Mr. Bae has argued and advanced unprecedented legal theories regarding the right of denial, cancellation of executory contracts, and limitations on creditor’s setoff rights, and, as a result he is considered to have materially contributed to Korean bankruptcy jurisprudence. In the field of insolvency and corporate restructuring, he is widely recognized as a leading legal scholar and authority.

Mr. Bae’s expertise also includes securities and insurance disputes. He successfully overturned the lower Court’s ruling in a high-profile appellate case involving investment trusts, and distinguished himself in large-scale lawsuits, including those involving investment trusts related to the duty of care of asset management companies, disputes over the incomplete sale of financial investment products, and disputes between financial institutions in connection with work-outs.

Mr. Bae is an adjunct professor at Korea University School of Law. He received the Anam Lecture Award from the law school in 2017. He also serves on the Dispute Mediation & Deliberation Committee of Korea Exchange and is a member of Korea Securities Law Association.

Mr. Bae holds an LL.M. from the University of Minnesota School of Law.

Professional Memberships

1999 / Admitted to Bar, Korea

Personal

2008 / Completed financial law (insurance law) course at Center for Financial Law, Seoul National University

2005 / University of Minnesota School of Law (LL.M.)

1995 / Seoul National University (LL.B.)

Publications

2023 / Financial Consumer Protection Act Commentary (Co-author), Pakyoungsa

1999 / Acquisition of Real Estate by Prescription, Judicial Research and Training Institute

Experience

2000-Present / JIPYONG LLC

2007-Present / Member, Korea Securities Law Association

2021-2023 / Member, Active Administrative Committee, Financial Services Commission

2015-2020 / Adjunct Professor, Korea University School of Law

2015-2019 / Member, Dispute Mediation & Deliberation Committee, Korea Exchange

2005 / Passed the New York bar examination

1999 / Associate, Shin & Kim

Work Highlights

Overturned Supreme Court precedent with a Supreme Court en banc decision related to scope of lessee’s liabilities for damage caused by fire in the leased building

Represented an asset management company in a damages claim in the amount of scores of billions of won by investors in a vessel fund

Represented many securities companies in large-scale lawsuits involving incomplete sale of financial investment products, breach of duty to explain, churning, discretionary trading, and employer’s liabilities.

Represented many insurance companies in lawsuits involving duty to inform, duty to notify, duty to explain, and interpretation of insurance terms and conditions.

Languages Spoken

Korean / English