Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

One client notes: “Jipyong & Jisung has many offices, with particular experience in China.” The firm, which changed its name from Jisung Horizon in December 2010, is noted for its rapid expansion throughout Southeast Asia. It has offices in Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Phnom Pench and Vientiane.

Jipyong & Jisung has taken advantage of its Southeast Asian connections to participate in various landmark deals. For example, partners Haeng-Gyu Lee, Hee-Suk Chai and Eun-Young Lee led on the KRW56.3 billion initial public offering of Koalo Holdings, the first Laotian company to be listed on a Korean market index.

This year, Jipyong & Jisung’s M&A practice, headed by Seong Kang, expanded its client list to include SK Group, GS Group, Korea Development Bank and Daeshin Securities. Kang is well respected within the Korean legal community with clients praising his legal expertise. “His knowledge and expertise were first rate, and his ability to think out of the box was invaluable,” says one client.

The firm acted as buyers’ counsel on Daeshin Securities SPAC’s KRW80 billion acquisition of Ssuntel. Special purpose acquisition companies (Spac) were approved by the regulators in 2010 as a means of boosting M&A deal volume in Korea. This transaction represented the first successful deal involving a Spac company.

Although the litigation practice at Jipyong & Jisung lost a handful of associates this year, the firm managed to hire Hong-Hyun Lee from the Constitutional Court of Korea as its new managing partner for litigation.

Partner Seong Kang led a case for Korean Development Bank against Hanwha Consortium regarding a security deposit in the cancelled acquisition of DSME, one of the largest ship-building companies in the world. The KRW322 billion decision concluded that a preferred bidder cannot withdraw a bid without penalty citing changes in the economic climate.

Partner Choon-Won Lee, who left Choi & Kim in 2008, leads the shipping, maritime and aviation practice at Jipyong & Jisung, which peers describe as “litigation-oriented”.

In one of the firm’s largest cases this year, Lee represented Pyeongtaek Dangjin Central Port in a dispute regarding an accident with the boat ‘Joyous Land’. It collided with the port’s berth upon docking, causing severe damage. Lee advised on a suit against the owners of ‘Joyous Land’, and won US$10 million in damages for repairs to the berth, administrative fees and lost earnings from the berth.

Another highlight case involved the ‘Kotoku Fortune’ accident, in which the Panamanian-flagged tanker made contact with a rope that connected two fishing boats. The result was one fishing boat capsizing and three crewmembers losing their lives. The master of Kotoku Fortune was accused and detained regarding the deaths and property destruction, but the firm’s immediate orders to investigate limited the damages and liability.