Event information
The role of general counsel and senior in-house legal advisors is constantly evolving to meet the rapidly changing demands of organisations in today’s business world. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day legal challenges affecting the business and managing legal staff, in-house lawyers are expected to diversify their service offering in order to overcome a growing list of commercial challenges. Whether it is managing internal investigations, defending their company in cross-border disputes, handling complex data or adapting to the shifting trends in M&A, the required skillset of the profession is developing at an exponential rate.
The Legal 500’s GC Summit South Korea invites the most esteemed in-house counsel from the country’s most prolific companies to discuss their changing roles as in-house leaders and the challenges, issues and opportunities they are set to face in 2023 and beyond. Between comprehensive panel discussions, presentations and the opportunity to meet and engage with fellow in-house counsel, GC Summit South Korea promises to be a practical, forward-looking event bringing together the region’s top legal minds.
Agenda
12.15pm – 12.50pm Registration
12.50pm – 1.00pm Welcome Address and Introductory Remarks
- Jinny Suh, associate general counsel – Asia Pacific, McKinsey & Company
- Joe Boswell, global editor, The Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
1.00pm – 1.50pm M&A in South Korea: Current trends, market outlook, and deal execution by Greenberg Traurig LLP
- Jang Hyuk Yeo, partner, Greenberg Traurig LLP
- Hyewon Lee, associate, Greenberg Traurig LLP
- Roger S. Chae, group general counsel, global legal compliance & audit, Hanon Systems
- In Kim, counsel, overseas legal affairs department, Korea Investment & Securities Company
1.50pm – 2.40pm Trends in international arbitration from a Korean perspective presented by Herbert Smith Freehills
- Mike McClure KC, head of Seoul, foreign legal consultant (England & Wales, UK), Australian Registered Foreign Lawyer, Herbert Smith Freehills
- Dana (Da Won) Kim, partner, foreign legal consultant (England & Wales, UK), Australian Registered Foreign Lawyer, Herbert Smith Freehills
- Dr Peter Ruttman, general counsel, BMW Korea
- Tigran Ter-Martirosyan, director, Accuracy
2.40pm – 3.05pm Coffee Break
3.05pm – 3.55pm Recent developments and uniqueness in Korean competition law presented by Lee & Ko (Korean Language Panel)
- Hwan Jeong, partner, Lee & Ko
- Jong Youn Han, partner, Lee & Ko
- Ui Jae Lee, general counsel, Veolia
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YounGyu (Jack) Lee, director, general counsel and head of compliance, Chubb Life Korea
- Minwoo Chae, legal team leader, Starbucks Korea
3.55pm – 4.25pm Fireside Chat: Getting litigation right: Reaction, Management and Outcome presented by Greenberg Traurig LLP
- Richard A. Edlin, partner and vice chair, Greenberg Traurig LLP
- HyoYeon Yoon. Korea general counsel, Citi
- Joe Boswell, global editor for The Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
4.25pm –5.15pm The Future of AI, Data & HR management presented by Yulchon (Korean Language Panel)
- Doil Son, partner, Yulchon
- Sun Hee Kim, partner, Yulchon
- Jung Woo Lee, partner, Yulchon
5.15pm – 5.20pm Closing Remarks
5.20pm – 6.30pm Networking Drinks
Speakers
Joe Boswell, global editor, The Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
Joe Boswell has been a part of The Legal 500’s editorial team, specialising on the in-house legal community, for more than seven years. He now heads The Powerlist team, acting as chief editor for the over 40 separate editions of the GC Powerlist series which serve as The Legal 500’s flagship title celebrating the world’s top in-house counsel, as well as Global Editor for The Legal 500’s Private Practice Powerlist Series.
During the course of researching for the GC Powerlist series, Boswell has interviewed a vast number of world-renowned general counsel, chief legal officers, and legal directors about overcoming the challenges they face, their legal innovations, and how they see the general counsel role progressing in coming years. As well as this, he is a regular speaker at Legal 500 summits, roundtables, award ceremonies and other events, and often writes in-depth reports on business and legal issues.
Boswell is an alumnus of both the University of Sussex in The United Kingdom and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in The Netherlands.
Jinny Suh, associate general counsel - Asia Pacific, McKinsey & Company
Jong Youn HAN, partner, Lee & Ko
Jong Youn HAN is a partner at Lee & Ko with her practice concentrating in antitrust law at Lee & Ko. Since joining the firm in 2009, Ms. Han has extensive experience in representing multinational and domestic companies on various antitrust issues concerning cartel, abuse of dominance, unfair practices, merger filing, litigation, and intellectual property. She practices mainly before the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) and the Korean courts.
Throughout her career, Ms. Han has been actively involved in many high-profile cases in Korea or relating to Korean businesses in the semiconductor, IT, pharmaceuticals, shipping, telecommunications, aviation, chemical and other sectors.
Richard A Edlin, partner and vice chair, Greenberg Traurig
Mike McClure KC, head of Seoul, foreign legal consultant (England & Wales, UK), Australian Registered Foreign Lawyer , Herbert Smith Freehills
Mike is a partner and English qualified solicitor advocate in Herbert Smith Freehills’ international arbitration group with expertise in arbitration, court, and expert determination proceedings, and with a particular focus on disputes in the energy, construction, infrastructure, and financial services sectors.
He has advised clients on arbitrations under the auspices of several arbitral institutions, including the LCIA, ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, ICSID, LMAA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC and BCDR. Mike has also represented clients in ad hoc arbitrations under the English Arbitration Act and advised clients on English and DIFC First Instance and Court of Appeal proceedings. Mike leads the firm’s dispute resolution practice in Korea
Dana (Da Won) Kim, partner, foreign legal consultant (England & Wales, UK), Australian registered foreign lawyer, Herbert Smith Freehills
Dana has nearly 15 years’ experience advising clients on cross-border disputes including arbitration, litigation, mediation, and other forms of dispute resolution, particularly in the technology, energy, finance and construction sectors. She acts in arbitrations under all of the major arbitration rules such as ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, LCIA, KCAB, DIAC, CIETAC and ICDR. Dana is consistently recognised as a leading individual for international arbitration by the major legal directories including The Legal 500, Chambers & Partners and Who’s Who Legal.
Jang Hyuk Yeo, partner, Greenberg Traurig LLP
Jang Hyuk Yeo focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, capital markets, foreign investments, private equity transactions, and other general corporate matters. Mr. Yeo has worked on numerous high-profile cross-border transactions since moving to Korea in 2012 and has advised Korean companies in some of the most complex cross-border transactions. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig LLP, Mr. Yeo practiced at a leading Korean law firm where he has gained extensive experience in mergers andacquisitions and private equity transactions.
Ui Jae Lee, general counsel, Veolia
Ui Jae Lee is the General Counsel of Veolia Korea, a global leader in the environmental industry including water, waste and energy. As head of Veolia Korea’s legal department, she oversees corporate governance, M&A, and disputes related to the environmental business. Under her leadership, Veolia Korea’s legal team was recognized as ESG in-house team of the year at the Asian Legal Business Awards in 2022. Prior to joining Veolia, she worked as an attorney at Yulchon LLC’s C&F Group for 9 years, where she was actively involved in many high-profile transactions in primarily the finance, real estate, and M&A sectors.
Hwan Jeong, partner, Lee & Ko
A senior partrner and head of Antitrust & Competition group, Hwan JEONG’s practice focuses on a broad range of antitrust & competition law matters including investigation of merger review, cartels, abuse of market dominance and unfair trade practices, and antitrust litigation. Mr. Jeong has handled many high-profile antitrust cases in his 25+ years of practice, including the Korea Fair Trade Commission’s case against Microsoft in which he represented the commission. Additionally, he has handled many cartel cases such as an international FX cartel, an international auto parts cartel, an international capacitor cartel, an international airline cartel, an international LCD cartel, and an international DRAM cartel. He also has been involved in many global merger review cases, cross-border investments and general corporate transactions. He served as a member of International Bar Association Antitrust Committee Unilateral Conduct Working Group. Mr. Jeong also served as an Advisory Counsel for the Competition Policy Advisory Committee of the Korea Fair Trade Commission. He was an ad-hoc instructor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea, where he taught international contract law and was an ad-hoc instructor at the Seoul National University Law School, and the Korea University Law School where he taught antitrust law. He is a frequent speaker and has also written extensively on topics related to antitrust and competition law. He provides legal advice to the Korea Fair Trade Commission in connection with the amendment of Korean antitrust laws and regulations as an antitrust expert.
YounGyu (Jack) Lee, director, general counsel and head of compliance, Chubb Life Korea
Minwoo Chae, legal team leader, Starbucks Korea
Roger S. Chae, group general counsel, global legal compliance & audit, Hanon Systems
Roger Chae is the General Counsel for Hanon Systems’ global operations in over twenty countries and is supported by team members in the Americas, Europe, South Africa, and Asia Pacific. Roger started his legal career as a Prosecutor in the United States and personally led over fifteen jury trials in a variety of criminal offenses, including corporate fraud / corruption and white collar crimes.
With a quest to continually learn, he served in various roles in the courts, at international law firms, and at multinational corporations. He particularly enjoys commercial and legal strategies, business development, problem solving, and making a difference each day.
Roger grew up in Hawaii and completed his undergraduate studies in International Business at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and obtained his law degree from the University of San Francisco. His interests in global business are complemented by an MBA degree from Indiana University, Kelley School of Business.
Doil Son, partner, Yulchon
Doil Son is the Head of the IP & Technology Practice of Yulchon LLC. His experience is focused on Mergers & Acquisitions, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Telecom and Media, Data Privacy and Cyber Security including Trade Secret Protection as well as crisis management. He represented leading multinational and local e-commerce companies and financial institutions for their ICT businesses involving artificial intelligence, big data, data privacy, cyber security, cryptocurrency, metaverse, fintech, and healthtech. He often goes to regulatory agencies and courts to defend his clients in ICT and data privacy compliance cases. He also represented his clients in major data breach cases, including the biggest data breach case in Korean history which occurred in 2014 where over 100 million users of three credit card companies were affected. In addition, he also represented his clients in various trade secret violation cases and internal investigation cases. He frequently lectures on ICT issues concerning data privacy, artificial intelligence, fintech, and healthtech in various conferences held by the International Bar Association, Inter-Pacific Bar Association, and Korean government agencies. Mr. Son has a B.A. in political science from the Seoul National University and an L.L.M. from UCLA School of Law (2002). He joined Yulchon as a partner in 2012, after serving as a judge at Kwangju District Court for two years from 1996 to 1998, and working at other major Korean law firms. Mr. Son established his international network by serving as the Vice President for International Relations of the Korean Bar Association from 2012 to 2013, and currently serving as the Co-Chair of the Technology Law Committee of the International Bar Association and Co-Chair of the TMT Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. Mr. Son’s 2011 book Sovereign Wealth War illustrates the dynamics of various sovereign wealth funds that are now the key sources of global funding.
Sun Hee Kim, partner, Yulchon
Sun Hee Kim is a partner at Yulchon who focuses her practice on data protection, e-commerce, ICT and Fintech. She also has extensive experience in cross-border M&As. Sun Hee’s data protection practice includes advising clients on cross-border data transfers, data management strategies, responding to data breach incidents, data protection trainings, and data related compliance projects, litigations, and investigations. Sun Hee also advises on data protection issues in the context of M&A transactions, such as conducting due diligence on the target companies, and assisting with post-merger integrations. Sun Hee also actively advises both domestic and global companies in the e-commerce, ICT and Fintech sectors, on their launching and expanding their businesses in Korea. Sun Hee is actively involved in the International Bar Association as an Officer of IBA’s Asia Pacific Regional Forum, and regularly speaks at various conferences and seminars on ICT and data privacy issues. Sun Hee is also the Co-Chair of AMCHAM’s ICT Committee.
Jung Woo Lee, partner, Yulchon
Jungwoo Lee is a partner at Yulchon LLC who practices primarily in the areas of Corporate & Finance and Labor & Employment. His practice area focuses on advisory services including labor relations strategy, personnel management, industrial health and safety (including the severe accidents), regulatory compliance (including internal investigations) and various litigation services pertaining to employment-related matters. In particular, Mr. Lee’s experiences of living abroad, being seconded to a Japanese law firm and obtaining a U.S. CPA license has facilitated his deep understanding of differences in corporate cultures, which has allowed him to be an effective counselor to various multinational corporate clients. Mr. Lee graduated from Seoul National University College of Law in 2005 and completed his judicial training with the 37th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court in 2008.
Dr Peter Ruttman, general counsel, BMW Korea
Tigran Ter-Martirosyan, director, Accuracy
Tigran Ter-Martirosyan is a Director in the Singapore office of Accuracy, focusing on the valuation of businesses, intangible assets and damages, as well as on accounting issues in international arbitration and litigation. He has performed valuations and damages assessments in a variety of sectors including financial services, mining, oil and gas, technology and telecoms.
Tigran has been appointed as an expert witness and advisor, including by arbitral tribunals, and has been involved in arbitration matters under SIAC, HKIAC, ICC, LCIA, SCC, SCAI, and UNCITRAL rules, and litigation in Singapore, Hong Kong, UK, Australia, and offshore jurisdictions. His experience also includes valuation for the purposes of mediation, expert determination, M&A, restructuring and tax.
HyoYeon Yoon, Korea general counsel, Citi
Hyo-Yeon Yoon has been a key member of the Citi in-house legal team in Korea for over a decade, and now bears overall responsibility for the team as a whole. Yoon is also a member of the senior management team for the country, combining her legal and business acumen expertly to advise on strategic matters for the financial services giant.
In addition to her significant achievements in the in-house legal world, Yoon also boasts an enviable career in private practice. From 2001-2011 she practiced with Kim & Chang, where she advised on all aspects of financial products, domestic and international, and on restructuring of financial institutions. She also litigated on disputes involving financial derivatives products and advised on investigations by the Financial Supervisory Service, the Fair Trade Commission and the Prosecutors’ Office.
Yoon is an alumnus of the Seoul National University College of Law and Harvard Law School, and is admitted to both the Korea and New York Bar.
Hyewon Lee, associate, Greenberg Traurig LLP
Hyewon Lee has comprehensive expertise in corporate matters that extends across advising clients on outbound transactions as well as representing clients in U.S. litigations and international arbitrations when in dispute. On the transaction side, Hyewon focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and general corporate matters. On the disputes side, Hyewon represents clients in high-stakes cases involving shareholder disputes, busted deals, disputes arising from foreign investments, and various other complex cross-border transactions. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Hyewon practiced at a leading international arbitration boutique where she represented clients in cross-border disputes and provided advice on the underlying transactions prior to, after, or as an alternative to the dispute resolution. She has also previously served as corporate counsel for a multinational Korean conglomerate and a digital asset exchange where she advised on a wide range of corporate matters.
In Kim, counsel, overseas legal affairs department, Korea Investment & Securities Co., Ltd.
Possessing extensive hands-on M&A, real estate, and finance experience, In Kim currently handles a broad array of high-profile and complex real estate and financing transactions with large deal sizes as Counsel at Korea Investment & Securities. Prior to his current role, Kim was a senior associate with Ashurst in Hong Kong, representing multiple clients in – among other things – highly complex cross-border transactions, and also held positions with major Korean law firms Yulchon and Kim & Chang.
In association with...
Greenberg Traurig (GT) is a global law firm with approximately 2100 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in 41 commercial and government centers across the United States and in Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. GT was recently lauded as the #1 U.S. law firm in commercial litigation cases filed since 2009.
GT’s Seoul office helps clients bridge diverse legal systems and cultures with a focus on efficient and effective legal services. We have a great deal of experience advising Korean, U.S., and other international clients with respect to both inbound and outbound matters. Our attorneys have decades of experience to draw on in providing first-in-class service in areas including commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation, corporate, investments, tax, and real estate. Over the past two decades GT has handled many major pieces of litigation and transactional work for key Korean clients.
With more than 40 years of experience as Korea’s premier full-service law firm, Lee & Ko has a widely recognised and long-established record of excellence in providing expert legal advice and representation to its diverse clients in domestic and international matters involving all areas of legal practice.
Lee & Ko’s in-depth expertise extends to all legal practice areas. Relevant services to the clients are provided by one or more of the 8 major practice groups within the firm including (i) corporate and M&A, (ii) banking, finance and securities, (iii) litigation (both civil and criminal) and international arbitration (iv) tax & customs, (v) antitrust & competition, (vi) labour & employment, (vii) intellectual property and (viii) white-collar crime. These 8 practice groups consist of approximately 40 specialised teams of legal professionals. Each professional member works together to provide “one-stop service” to clients, providing comprehensive and highly focused expertise to meet each client’s needs.
Lee & Ko is consistently awarded top-tier rankings in all practice areas in worldwide surveys conducted by leading market research publications, such as The Legal 500, IFLR 1000, Asialaw Profiles and Chambers Asia.
Herbert Smith Freehills is a leading global law firm with over 5,000 people, including 508 partners, in 25 offices across Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
As one of the world’s leading law firms, we advise many of the biggest and most ambitious organisations across all major regions of the globe. Our clients trust us with their most important transactions, disputes and projects because of our ability to cut through complexity and mitigate risk. We offer local insight and seamless cross-border service in all major regions. Positioned to support the major trade flows, we help the world’s top companies thrive in the global economy.
Herbert Smith Freehills is the largest fully integrated law firm in Asia Pacific and is one of the world’s top ranked and most experienced energy & resources firms; a globally pre-eminent and recognised firm in litigation, arbitration and contentious regulatory work; and an international leader in M&A, private equity, capital markets, infrastructure and banking and finance.