Sanghoon Han

Practice Areas

International arbitration, International Disputes

Career

Sanghoon Han is the Head of the International Arbitration Team, specializing in large-scale, complex construction disputes. He has also made a name for himself as an investor-state dispute specialist at Lee & Ko and continues to do so. In addition to representing the Republic of Korea in both investor-state dispute matters brought by the U.S. hedge funds, Mason and Elliott, respectively, he is the lead attorney in representing the Republic of Korea in an ICSID case brought by the Gale Investments Co., LLC, a U.S. family-owned real estate development company. He continues to handle a wide variety of international arbitration cases, and has represented both Korean and foreign clients in arbitration proceedings conducted under a number of leading international arbitration rules. He is also currently pursuing graduate doctorate legal course work in international investment law at the Seoul National University Law School.

In addition to his arbitration-related practice, Mr. Han has extensive experience as a legal advisor on labor law, M&A, corporate governance and foreign investment matters and advises clients on legal issues relating to all facets of corporate/business operations, including incorporation, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, mergers, restructuring, liquidation and dissolution matters.

Mr. Han is also active in the professional legal community in Korea and globally. He was appointed as the official spokesperson for the Korean Bar Association where he served from February 2015 to October 2016 and is currently the National Representative of Korea for the International Bar Association Young Lawyers’ Committee, where he works to foster links between young lawyers in Korea and the Korean Bar Association and expands the membership of both the IBA and the IBA Young Lawyers’ Committee within Korea. He has been recognized in major publications, including as a “Lawyer of the Year in 2020 – International Arbitration” in Legal Times, with a source describing him as someone who has “worked on some of the biggest Investor-State Arbitration cases of all time in Korea” and “has extensive experience in international arbitration”. Who’s Who Legal (2022) also described him as a “meticulously thorough” practitioner who is “one of the next generation of arbitrators” in Korea by peers and clients. Furthermore, he has been recognized as a "Ranked Lawyer" in Dispute Resolution: Arbitration by Chambers Global and Chambers Asia-Pacific in both 2023 and 2024, and as a "Litigation Star" in International Arbitration by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific in 2024. Among other accolades, he was honored as the "Best Arbitration Lawyer" by the Korea In-house Counsel Association in 2023. Mr. Han currently serves on the panel of arbitrators at a number of arbitral institutions including KCAB, AIAC, Thai Arbitration Institute and MCIA, and mediators for SIMC, and has acted as an arbitrator in international arbitration cases under the rules of KCAB. Sanghoon is a Fellow of the Charted Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). He is admitted to practice law in Korea and California.

Professional Memberships

Member of California Bar and Korean Bar

Member of Management Committee for Korean Council for International Arbitration (KOCIA)

International Bar Association, Young Lawyers’ Committee, National Representative of Korea

Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Panel of arbitrators for Korean Commercial Arbitration Board

Panel of arbitrators for Asian International Arbitration Centre

Panel of arbitrators for Thai Arbitration Institute

Panel of mediator for Singapore International Mediation Centre

Publications

Construction related Claims and Loss of Profit, International Contractors Association of Korea (2022)

The Relation between Liquidated Damages and Contract Termination under English Law, International Contractors Association of Korea (2022)

GAR Investment Treaty Arbitration - South Korea / Co-author (2021)

Prohibition against Predetermination of Penalty for Breach of Contracts under the Labor Standards Act (2016)

Ordinary Wage: After the 2013 Supreme Court Decision (2014)

Labor Market Regulation Questionnaire – Republic of Korea, Doing Business, co-authored (2014, 2015)

Personal

Member of California Bar and Korean Bar