Lee & Ko won in total five categories in the ALB Korea Law Awards 2024, and has proven its potential as a leading law firm in Korea.
In the Firm category, Lee & Ko was awarded “Litigation Law Firm of the Year” and “Energy and Resources Law Firm of the Year”. In the individual categories, Lee & Ko attorney Daehoon Koo (Corporate and M&A Practice Group) and attorney Hyunjoo Oh (Capital Markets Group) were selected as "Dealmaker of the Year" and "Woman Lawyer of the Year," respectively. The firm was also awarded "Project Finance Deal of the Year" in the deal categories.
First of all, in the Firm categories, under which the best law firm in Korea is selected for each specialized area, Lee & Ko was awarded in two areas: “Litigation Law Firm of the Year” and “Energy and Resources Law Firm of the Year”. These awards highlight its long-standing achievements in assisting clients across various industries with all aspects of energy and resources-related issues, including not only energy and resource-related transactions but also regulatory, dispute, and trade matters amid the ongoing shift towards sustainable energy. Notably in the litigation field, the firm stood out by being selected as the Law Firm of the Year for the second consecutive year. It received high praise for successfully handling high-profile cases, including the injunction related to the selection of a preferred bidder for a major defense contract, the case seeking an injunction to prevent the government from enforcing a policy to increase medical school enrollment quotas, and the criminal case involving high-level executives at Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Furthermore in the individual categories, attorney Daehoon Koo (Corporate and M&A Practice Group) was selected as “Dealmaker of the Year” and attorney Hyunjoo Oh (Capital Markets Group) was selected as “Woman Lawyer of the Year”. Mr. Koo was recognized for his achievements in successfully closing various deals despite the recent downturn in the M&A market. These include advising on CJ Olive Young’s investor exit through a treasury stock acquisition, the sale of shares in SSG.com, LG Chem’s establishment of a joint venture with Eni S.p.A., as well as the sale of listed companies including MEDIANA and AP Satellite, the cross-border sale of Sealtech, Farm Hannong’s sale of chemical business, the public tender offer for BusinessOn, acquisitions and/or investments in Elogen, Convion, DeepX, and Lotte Aluminum’s vertical spin-off. Meanwhile, Ms. Oh, with 26 years of experience in the capital markets field, currently serves as the co-head of Lee & Ko’s Financial Regulatory Team. In February of this year, she became the first female partner to be appointed as member of Lee & Ko’s Management Committee, marking her active participation in the firm’s leadership.
In the deal category, the firm demonstrated its outstanding capabilities by winning the “Project Finance Deal of the Year” award. This recognition was for its role in advising on the USD 860,000,000 project financing transaction by ECOPRO GLOBAL HUNGARY ZRT, a Hungarian subsidiary of ECOPRO BM Co., Ltd. for the construction of an electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary.
ALB Korea Law Awards is one of the awards ceremony in the legal sector hosted by Asian Legal Business (ALB), an affiliate of Thomson Reuter, a prestigious legal professional media in Asia. ALB Korea Law Awards evaluates deals and in-house transactions based on materials submitted by each law firm.