Yoon & Yang LLC (“Yoon & Yang”) announces a leadership change, effective on January 1, 2024.
Yoon & Yang elected Myung Soo Lee as the Senior Managing Partner in its Seoul office. The firm also named two Managing Partners, Young Ho Kang and Jin Guk Shi who will oversee day-to-day operations of the firm’s management. They will lead the firm as members of the management committee for the next three years.
Myung Soo Lee was unanimously elected by the equity partners of the firm during the partners meeting in October 2023. He already served in a leadership role as one of the three managing partners for six years since 2017 and succeeds Jinsu Jeong, who served as Yoon & Yang’s Senior Managing Partner since 2018.
For the past six years, Myung Soo Lee led the firm as a managing partner and dedicated his efforts to enhancing customer-centered legal services. Under his guidance, Yoon & Yang has become the primary legal advisor for many conglomerates and major domestic financial institutions.
Myung Soo Lee also spearheaded key recruitment efforts, notable hires including JongKu Choi, former chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, Jong-moon Choi, former vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sae Chun Park, senior deputy governor for the Financial Supervisory Service, and Dong Shin Lee, former commissioner of the regional office of the National Tax Service in Busan.
In particular, Myung Soo Lee was instrumental in Yoon & Yang’s new leap forward as a “financial advisory firm”. Since joining Yoon & Yang in 2010, Myung Soo Lee led and shaped the firm’s regulatory, litigation, and advisory service practices across the financial industry. Some recent achievements for the firm under his leadership are the successful results of the sanctions-related advisory and investigation response work for major banks and securities companies in connection with the mis-selling of private equity funds, such as in the Lime Asset Management incident, and the obligation to establish internal control standards. As a result, Yoon & Yang joined the “KRW 200 billion revenue club” by increasing its revenue with a growth rate of more than 20%, the highest among the nation’s top six law firms.
Young Ho Kang, who also started his role as a managing partner, began his career at Kim, Shin & Yu in 2001, and has continued his tenure as a Yoon & Yang attorney since 2006 when Kim, Shin & Yu merged with Yoon & Yang. As an attorney with specialization in M&A, finance, and capital markets, he has served as the head of the Banking & Finance Practice Group as well as the head of the Corporate Advisory Group. His experience makes him well equipped to strengthen and expand the reach of Yoon & Yang’s M&A and corporate advisory capabilities.
Jin Guk Shi joined Yoon & Yang in 2020 after having served as a judge in various courts for a period spanning almost 20 years, from 2003 to 2020. At Yoon & Yang as the head of the Litigation Practice Group, he has achieved remarkable success, such as winning in every lawsuit defending Asiana Airlines against the claim for recovery of deposit payment following the failure of a planned acquisition of Asiana Airlines by HDC Hyundai Development.
The new management plans to focus on Yoon & Yang’s evolution into a “comprehensive advisory platform” by providing a full range of customized solutions and pre-emptively identifying corporate needs. In addition to the firm’s strengths in litigation, finance, and antitrust, the firm has been building capabilities in response to fast-paced industry changes with the formation of various task force groups and centers, such as the ESG Center, GRC Center, Environmental Regulations Response Center, and Digital Forensic Center.
“Building on the trust of all Yoon & Yang members, the primary focus of the new management will be the shared growth of Yoon & Yang and our clients,” said Myung Soo Lee. “We will grow as a law firm that develops together with our clients, with the goal of strengthening the trust of those who seek Yoon & Yang's services.”
Yoon & Yang is one of the leading full-service law firms in South Korea, providing the highest quality legal services across a broad range of practice areas including M&As, international transactions, tax, employment, IP and all areas of disputes. It has offices in Seoul, Tashkent, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Jakarta.