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Regulatory: white-collar, compliance and investigations: local firms

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Bae, Kim & Lee LLC

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Bae, Kim & Lee LLC's white-collar defence and internal investigations group remains a key port of call for individuals and companies in criminal investigations, criminal trials, and internal investigations. Practice head Soo Bong Jung is recognised for his work in high-profile criminal cases relating to fair trade, financial, and tax offences. Jinwook Song has developed a broad white-collar crime practice, covering customs evasion, fraud, and bribery, while Jiyoung Sohn is a name to note in crisis management, particularly for the auto and consumer goods industries. Jeonghwan Kim and Jiyoung Park add additional investigations expertise. Sangchul Lee is especially active in industrial safety, fair trade, trade secret, and corruption matters.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'The ability to understand the client's needs is quite outstanding, and the opinions provided to clients are professional. This can be considered the most important factor for decision-making for corporate groups facing various legal issues. Most of the members and lawyers of this law firm are professionals with outstanding professional skills, so most companies in Korea trust and rely on this law firm.'
  • 'The team leader Soo Bong Jung effectively captures strong client demands, communicates them clearly to team members and provides strong leadership in driving execution.'
  • 'They have excellent balance, not only in the legal field but also in the ability to think three-dimensionally about specific issues, sophisticated analysis skills, and strategic perspectives.'
  • 'BKL's individual lawyers do their best to provide logically in-depth advice, considering not only the ability to structure key issues and problems when faced with a particular problem, but also the precedents, theories, similar cases, and institutional intent, and have a sense of reading complex patterns and responding proactively.'
  • 'The compliance team's clients recognise the team's strong government relations capabilities, and their high level of commitment to work.'
  • 'Jung-hwan Kim possesses strong expertise in antitrust matters related to prosecutorial investigations and has extensive experience in handling such cases. He is also able to leverage the professional network he built during his previous tenure at the Prosecutors Office.'

Key clients

  • Kakao Mobility Corp.
  • KT
  • LOTTE Hotel Duty Free
  • Meritz Securities
  • Samsung Biologics Co., Ltd.

Work highlights

Represented Kakao Mobility in a high-profile antitrust investigation, successfully limiting the scope of raids and arguing that its service logic reflected ongoing improvements and regulatory compliance.
Advised MBK Partners on a high-profile criminal dispute over management control of Korea Zinc, filing charges for business misconduct and antitrust violations involving mutual investment structures through overseas affiliates.
Advised KPMG Korea on a landmark criminal case involving allegations of accounting fraud by Samsung Biologics, marking the first case to test the interpretation of K-IFRS in Korea.

Lawyers

Leading partners

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Next Generation Partners

Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

Soobong Jung

Other key lawyers

Jinwook Song; Jiyoung Sohn; Jeonghwan Kim; Jiyoung Park; Sangchul Lee

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