Yoon & Yang has recruited partners Jin Kook Lee and So Yeon Yoon to strengthen its M&A and corporate advisory capabilities.
“With the addition of partners Jin Kook Lee and So Yeon Yoon, Yoon & Yang is broadening its client base, including Korea’s largest companies (e.g., conglomerates) and platform companies,” Myung Soo Lee, a managing partner at Yoon & Yang, told Asia Business Law Journal.
Jin Kook Lee joined Yulchon in 2004 and was a key member of its corporate and finance group for more than two decades before leaving the firm as a partner this year. Prior to his tenure at Yulchon, Lee served as a judge advocate at the Republic of Korea Army from 2001 to 2004.
He has experience leading a wide range of large-scale domestic and cross-border M&A and capital markets transactions. He has also advised on many M&A transactions, including Lotte Group’s sale of Lotte Rental, Hanwha Group’s acquisitions of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (currently Hanwha Ocean) and Naver’s acquisition of US-based Poshmark, among others.
Meanwhile, Yoon joined Yulchon in 2012 and worked there for a decade before transitioning to Naver as its legal director from 2022 to 2024. She returned to Yulchon as a partner from 2024 to 2025 before joining Yoon & Yang.
Yoon is knowledgeable in corporate governance, foreign investment, IPOs and M&A transactions across various industries. Her notable transactions include Hanwha Galleria and TimeWorld’s share exchange, KT Group’s media content holding company project, Lotte Capital’s equity sale and MBK Partners’ Homeplus acquisition, among others.
Commenting on the duo’s roles at Yoon & Yang, managing partner Lee said Jin Kook Lee had led a large volume of M&A and IPO transactions, while Yoon, drawing on her expertise in IT and platform companies, had focused on M&A and corporate governance issues.
Lee had also observed that following the presidential election in Korea, investments and economic activities were being stabilised, easing market uncertainty. Coupled with the global trend of interest rate cuts, the M&A market was expected to gain strong momentum in the second half of this year, he added.
He noted that the recruitment of two partners reflected the firm’s goal to become the top-tier law firm in Korea in M&A, capital markets and corporate advisory within a short period of time.
