Yunsoo Shin

Practice Areas

Dr Yunsoo Shin is a partner at Peter & Kim and a highly experienced specialist in international commercial disputes. She has been elected as a member of the ICC Court for the 2024–2027 term and has also joined the esteemed Task Force for the IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration, the ICC Institute of World Business Law, and the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR. Dr Shin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Specialist Mediator at the Singapore International Mediation Centre, and one of the youngest Korean arbitrators active in the ICC International Court of Arbitration. She has acted as an international arbitrator at SIAC, HKIAC, ACICA, and KCAB, and as counsel in various international arbitration cases conducted under the rules of the ICC, SIAC, LCIA, HKIAC, and KCAB.

Her expertise spans both the common law and civil law traditions, covering a broad range of business transactions and commercial disputes. These include M&As, general contract law, share purchase and asset purchase agreements, distributorship agreements, construction, automobile manufacturing, and license agreements, among other areas. Notably, she is one of the most experienced young lawyers in Korea, having handled numerous multi-billion-dollar post-M&A disputes involving Korean chaebols.

Dr Shin is dual licensed in the New York Bar and the Korean Bar, with in-depth knowledge and expertise in M&A disputes, finance, and corporate valuation. She is a graduate of Seoul National University (B.S., LL.B.), the Wharton School (MBA, in finance and business analytics), and Harvard Law School, where she earned her doctoral degree (SJD, in corporate governance and finance). Prior to joining Peter & Kim, Dr Shin practiced law at Bae, Kim & Lee LLC for 10 years and served as a fellow at Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance. She has published journal articles on international commercial disputes, corporate governance, and shareholder disputes in Delaware and Korea.

Career

• Member, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration (2024–Present)

• Ex Officio Member, ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR (2024–Present)

• Member, ICC Institute of World Business Law (2025–Present)

• Member, Task Force for the IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration (2025–Present)

• Partner, Peter & Kim (2021–Present)

• “Lawyer of the Year” as the best Korean arbitration practitioner, Legal Times (2024)

• “Woman Lawyer of the Year,” ALB Korea Law Awards, Thomson Reuters (2023)

• Arbitrator, Maxwell Connecther, Maxwell Chambers (2024–Present)

• Arbitrator, International Chamber of Commerce, Court of Arbitration (2021–2022)

• Panel of Arbitrators (Fellow), Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (2023–Present)

• List of Arbitrators, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (2023–Present)

• Reserve Panel of Arbitrators, Singapore International Arbitration Centre (2023–Present)

• FCIArb (Fellow), Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (2025–Present)

• FSIArb (Fellow), Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (2023–2025)

• International Arbitrator, KCAB International (2021–Present)

• Specialist Mediator, Singapore International Mediation Centre (2022–Present)

• ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for Asia (2023–2024)

• Task Force Member, Korea Construction Engineers Association (2022 – 2023)

• Advisor, Special Committee on ESG, Seoul Bar Association (2022 – 2023)

• Planning Advisor, Construction Vision Forum (2022–2023)

• Fellow, Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance (2014 – 2020)

• Academic Fellow, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (2019 – 2020)

• Associate and Senior Associate, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC (2008 – 2018)

• Teaching Fellow & Summer Academic Fellow, Harvard Law School (2017 – 2018)

• Judicial Clerk, Judicial Research & Training Institute, Supreme Court of Korea (2006 – 2008)

• Passed the New York Bar (2014) and the Korean Bar (2005)

Work Highlights

• Arbitrator in an ICC arbitration seated in Seoul governed by Korean law over a dispute concerning a Singapore-based private equity’s exercise of the put option.

• Arbitrator in a KCAB International arbitration seated in Seoul, governed by Korean law, over a dispute concerning a consultancy agreement between Chinese and Korean companies.

• Arbitrator in a KCAB International arbitration seated in Seoul governed by the CISG over a dispute concerning a supply contract between American and Korean companies.

• Counsel in an ICC arbitration seated in New York governed by New York law over a dispute arising out of a License Agreement between Korean and Chinese pharmaceutical companies.

• Counsel in a high-profile series of ICC arbitration cases with the underlying dispute valued at multi-billion dollars, seated in Seoul, governed by Korean law, over a dispute concerning multiple financial investors’ exercise of the put option and corporate valuation.

• Counsel for the Respondent in a successful ICC arbitration seated in Singapore governed by Korean law arising under a joint venture and the multi-billion-dollar real estate development plan and project financing in Northeast Asia, where 100% of the opposing party’s claims were dismissed with the full reimbursement order for the entire fees and costs.

• Counsel in an ICC arbitration seated in London arising from a joint venture between Korean and American biosimilar companies, after which the client entered into a successful settlement agreement for over USD 1 billion.

• Counsel in a high-profile KCAB international arbitration seated in Seoul between Korean and American companies arising out of the License Agreements and patents regarding a nuclear power plant technology.

• Counsel in an HKIAC arbitration seated in Hong Kong between two consortia of multinational financial investors arising from an M&A of a biotechnology company, concerning the alleged breach of representations and warranties.

• Counsel in a successful, high-profile ICC arbitration involving a dispute among shareholders for control over a major Korean oil refining and marketing company, with the underlying claims valued at over USD 3 billion (or USD 5 billion, including counterclaims). The arbitration award won GAR’s “Arbitration Win of the Year” in 2011.

• Counsel in a SIAC arbitration seated in Singapore arising out of the Settlement Agreement over the recalls of the luxury German-brand automobiles and the supply of the automotive parts by the Korean manufacturer.

• Counsel in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris involving 30 separate claims arising from a multi-billion-dollar M&A transaction between Korean and American automobile manufacturers.

• Counsel in an HKIAC arbitration seated in Hong Kong arising out of the joint venture company between a Hong Kong-based global cryptocurrency exchange service provider and a Korean FinTech provider.

• Counsel for a Korean municipal government in an ICC arbitration seated in Seoul arising out of a global infrastructure investment company’s operation of a SOC in Korea.

• Counsel in an ICC arbitration seated in Zurich arising from a joint venture in China, agreed between Korean and English welding product manufacturers.

• Counsel in an ICC arbitration seated in Singapore arising under a distributorship agreement between one of the world’s largest manufacturers of medical products and Korea’s prominent pharmaceutical companies.

• Counsel in several ICC arbitrations seated in London and Zurich, under English law and Swiss Law, arising out of several power plants and water treatment projects in the Middle East.

• Counsel in an ICC arbitration and subsequent enforcement litigation in Korea resulting from a product recall of a major international brand baby formula.

Professional Memberships

• Korean and Seoul Bar Associations

• New York State Bar

• International Council for Commercial Arbitration

• Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee, Inter-Pacific Bar Association

• Arbitration Committee & Asia Pacific Regional Forum, International Bar Association

• List of Arbitrators, HKIAC

• FCIArb (Fellow), Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

• Reserve Panel of Arbitrators, SIAC

• Panel of Arbitrators (Fellow), Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration

• Panel of International Arbitrators, KCAB International

• Specialist Mediator, Singapore International Mediation Centre

Publications

- Author, The Arbitrability of Derivative Claims in Korea, in Journal of Arbitration Studies Vol. 35, Korean Association of Arbitration Studies (2025).

- Co-Author, East Asia’s Adoption of the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law: Focusing on Interim Measures, in Contemporary Asia Arbitration Journal (ESCI) Vol. 18, Asian Center for WTO & International Health Law and Policy at National Taiwan University (2025).

- Co-Author, Application of Korean Law in International Disputes, in SNU Law Review (Beophakpyungron) Vol. 12, Seoul National University (Korean) (2022)

- Reviewer, Commentary on the revised text of the 2020 IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration (official Korean translation) (International Bar Association, 2022)

- Reviewer, 2020 IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration (official Korean translation) (International Bar Association, 2022)

- Author, Legitimate Business Purpose of Freeze-outs, 34 Korean Business Law Review 87-118 (Korean) (2020)

- Author, MFW Standard and Business Judgment Rule in Delaware, 39 KOREAN COMMERCIAL LAW REVIEW 185-218 (Korean) (2020)

- Author, Why Did Shareholder Activism Fail in South Korea? S.J.D. Dissertation, Harvard Law School (2020)

- Co-Author, Korea Chapter, in International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration (International Council for Commercial Arbitration, Kluwer, 2012–2016)

- Co-Author, Practice of Korean Commercial Arbitration, 2nd Ed. (Korean) (Pakyoungsa, 2016)

- Author, Breach of Trust: Corporate Governance Enforcement in Korean Criminal Courts, LL.M. Dissertation, Harvard Law School (2014)

- Co-Author, Arbitration Law of Korea: Practice & Procedure (Juris, 2012)