Bae, Kim & Lee LLC

Bae, Kim & Lee LLC’s comprehensive labour and employment department offers support to Korean conglomerates and multinational companies. Sangmin Kim oversees the team, acting for domestic and foreign clients in relation to dismissals, illegal worker dispatch issues and collective bargaining. Wookrae Lee is a seasoned advisor on labour management disputes, while Seongsoo Kim acts for multinationals at trial and appellate levels in labour and employment disputes. Ben Gyowoong Gu lends his expertise to wage disputes and large-scale severance pay claims to conglomerates.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘The team is highly specialised in their field and always delivers the results our clients want.’
‘The individuals I worked with at Bae, Kim & Lee LLC demonstrated an exceptional level of expertise in labour and employment matters—far exceeding the general standard of professionalism.’
‘Mr. Sangmin Kim: Top-notch subject matter expertise and comms skills; very receptive to client feedback; timely response; good relationship-builder.’
‘They are one of the rare legal firms with skills in actual negotiations on CBA and wage bargaining. Their expertise was beyond mere legal advisory. Due to their strategic advice while linking to the company's objectives, we successfully settled on our first CBA peacefully.’
‘The team in BKL is very thoughtful and responds quickly, thoroughly examining various issues in detail according to their importance. They also suggest ways to address aspects that the client may not have considered, based on extensive experience.’
‘Excellently capable of logically reconstructing complex factual relationships in a way that strengthens the client's position. A team comprising both junior and senior attorneys collaborates in a coordinated and integrated manner.’

Key clients

Windsor Global
Diageo
InfraRed Capital Partners Limited
Hyundai Motors
Samsung Electronics
General Motors Korea
SK Hynix
LG Electronics
Samsung Display
LG Energy Solution
Naver
Coupang

Work highlights

Successfully defended GM Korea (GMK) in more than 100 employee dispatch disputes filed against it.

Represented Hyundai Motors and led the first ruling in the Republic of Korea to apply the principle of lapse to employee dispatch relationships.

Represented POSCO in administrative litigation seeking to revoke the remedial decision on the breach of the duty of fair representation concerning alleged discriminatory allocation of vehicle support between the Korea Metal Workers’ Union POSCO chapter and the bargaining representative union.