The disputes team at Yoon & Yang offers expertise across a variety of practice areas, with its core litigation practice focused on complex corporate, construction, finance, employment and securities matters. The team’s sector expertise includes manufacturing, construction, finance and technology. It has strong and well-regarded competition, employment, white-collar crime and product liability teams. The corporate litigation team comprises 70 former judges, 20 former prosecutors, two former Supreme Court Justices and one former Prosecutor General. In addition to its litigation and arbitration services, Yoon & Yang also offers mediation and negotiation services to help clients resolve disputes. Its mediators are trained and certified by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board and have experience across a wide range of disputes.
Key contacts of the firm’s commercial disputes team include Seung Ryong Yoo, Keon Joo Cho, Youbum Kim, Sang Pil Lee and Sue Yeon Woo. Hoil Yoon, Seong-Sig Kim, Jae Young Kim, Chul Ho Kim and Paul Rhee are prominent figures in the competition and antitrust space. The contentious construction experts are Seung Ryong Yoo, Don Eok Choi, Young Kang Eo, Kyung In Jung and Soo Hyeon Park.
For white-collar crime and enforcement, the key figures are partners and co-chairs of the criminal defence practice group, Hee Sik Yoon and Keon Joo Cho. Notable intellectual property partners include Wonil Kim and Dongju Kwon. Sang Hoon Park, Tae Hwan Oh, Seong Hong, Young Min Kim and Chan-Keun Park are the senior partners in the labour and employment practice. Partners Junsang Lee and Myung-Ahn Kim co-head the international arbitration group.
The commercial litigation team is acting for Kolon Life Science in a litigation at the Supreme Court to seek the cancellation of a disposition issued by the Minister of Science and ICT and the Minister of Health and Welfare to restrict participation in national research and development projects for three years. The client also aims to retrieve research funds. Another highlight during the research period is the team’s representation of Hahn[WC(1] & Co over a dispute related to its acquisition of management rights of Namyang Dairy Products.
In a seminal case, the team continues to represent multiple Taekwang Group affiliates at the Supreme Court stage in its fight against the KFTC in an administrative lawsuit seeking the annulment of administrative surcharges. This is the first case where the KFTC had regulated the undue benefit of a related party by dealing in greater volume than when dealing with outside suppliers, instead of dealing at a lowered price. The standard for determination of unlawfulness has not yet been established for regulation, so the pending court decision is expected to establish a blueprint on the standards for determining unlawfulness of assisting affiliated companies by dealing greater volume.
The competition team successfully defended Samsung Life Insurance over allegations of unfair support provision to Samsung SDS. Asiana Airlines has instructed the firm in an administrative litigation seeking cancellation of the KFTC’s disposition on the client’s alleged provision of undue benefit to a related party and alleged provision of unfair support to an affiliate.
The construction litigators are defending Posco E&C in the Seoul Central District Court against New Songdo International City Development’s allegation of excessively high construction costs for a residential complex. The team is also acting for plaintiff Daon Partners against the developer, Military Mutual Aid Association, to seek payment of the settlement amount in relation to an urban development project.
W-Scope has instructed the IP team on its patent infringement dispute with Asahi Kasei Korea concerning Asahi Kasei’s patent relating to rechargeable battery separators. The team is additionally representing SK Chemicals on its patent infringement battle with Novartis in relation to the latter’s patent for Rivastigmine. This is a leading case on the issues of whether damage for patent infringement should be awarded in the products exported abroad and if the patent term extension should be applied retrospectively.
In a precedent-setting labour case, the firm mounted a successful defence for Hyundai Motor Company at the Supreme Court level against a litigation filed by employees of a subcontractor regarding the illegal dispatch of workers. The legal counsels for Hyundai Motor were able to convince the highest court to reverse the judgment of the appellate court that approved the illegal dispatch of workers by arguing that the establishment of a worker dispatch relationship should not be recognised considering the occupational division of labour and collaboration structure among companies involved in the automobile industry.
The white-collar crime team is defending Doosung Industrial in a landmark case, being the very first one indicted since the Serious Accidents Punishment Act was enacted at the beginning of 2022. The case is related to an accident that occurred at one of the client’s plants, where 10 employees were exposed to a toxic chemical and afflicted with toxic hepatitis. The legal team raised an issue of the constitutionality of the law and claimed that the Act has unclear criminal composition requirements and heavy criminal punishment. The constitutionality controversy is the first raised since the enactment of the law and is significant because the ruling will affect the whole judicial process.
The antitrust team welcomed partner Yoon Hoo Kim and senior associate Nam Woung Heo from prosecutor’s offices, while bidding farewell to partners Seung Hyeon Sung and Mijung Kim, who went to Shin & Kim and TSMP in Singapore, respectively. Former presiding judge of the Seoul High Court, Seung Ku Hong joined the construction group as a partner. IP and insolvency specialist Changkwon Kim was also hired from his previous role as a judge. The white-collar crime team was bolstered by the addition of four partners and an of counsel from various courts and prosecutor’s offices around the country.
Key corporate clients of the firm include Audi Volkswagen Korea, British American Tobacco Korea, GE Healthcare, Keystone Foods and MAN Truck & Bus Korea. Core construction clients include Daehan Real Estate Investment Trust, GS Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust and Posco Engineering & Construction. Intellectual property clients include some of the world’s best-known brands such as Amazon, BMW, Intel, L’Oréal, Merck, Microsoft, Nike and SK Hynix.
“Yoon & Yang is very good at understanding the client's needs. Given the long period of time we have been a client, the firm knows our business well, knows how we handle disputes and what our management expects. On top of that, Yoon & Yang's disputes team is extremely talented so they deliver the best results.” – International arbitration
“Tremendous intellect and analytical abilities. Top-notch international arbitration team.” – International arbitration
“He's a top-tier attorney and while he's 100% dedicated to any case we give to him, he especially excels in highly complex cross-border disputes that require understanding of difficult factual and legal issues. I can always trust him to deliver the best result. More specifically, his advocacy skills are top-notch, perhaps one of the best in Korea I've seen.”
“He is a tremendous advocate with analytical skills. He is truly bilingual and a great orator.”