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On November 28, 2025, the Korea Economic Daily reported that Attorney Jaewoo Kwak of Lee & Ko was named Lawyer of the Year in recognition of his remarkable work in the intellectual property, patents, and trademarks areas.
The Korea Economic Daily stated, “Attorney Jaewoo Kwak, selected as Lawyer of the Year in the intellectual property sector for four consecutive years, has successfully handled not only civil and criminal intellectual property disputes but also numerous cross-border patent and trade secret cases involving cutting-edge technology, such as U.S. federal court and ITC litigation.” It added, “He is also recognized for his outstanding expertise in discovery procedures, which are currently under discussion for introduction in Korea.”
Additionally, it stated, “A representative case handled by Attorney Jaewoo Kwak this year is the ‘ice water purifier’ patent infringement lawsuit filed by ChungHo Nice against Coway. Representing Coway from the appellate stage, he completely overturned the first-instance judgment awarding KRW 10 billion in damages (claims granted in favor of the counterparty) and secured consecutive wins in the appellate and Supreme Court proceedings for a dramatic reversal.”

In a special survey conducted by Korea Economic Daily on August 25, 2025, among lawyers from Korea’s seven largest law firms, Attorney Un Ho Kim from Lee & Ko was selected as one of the “Role Model Lawyers” in the intellectual property (IP) field.
According to Korea Economic Daily, “Attorney Kim was behind major IP litigation cases that determined the very fate of Korea’s leading companies—such as the smartphone patent infringement disputes between Samsung Electronics and Apple, and the elastomer patent infringement lawsuits involving LG Chem, Mitsui Chemicals, and Dow Chemical.”
Korea Economic Daily added, “After his appointment as a judge in 1994, he served as a judge at the Intellectual Property Division of the Seoul High Court and as a judicial researcher specializing in IP matters at the Supreme Court of Korea. Since joining Lee & Ko in 2009, he has been instrumental in shaping numerous landmark IP precedents and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost attorneys in the intellectual property field.

On August 18, 2025, Maeil Business Newspaper published a detailed report on the achievements of Lee & Ko’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.
According to the article, “The Suwon District Court’s 14th Civil Division ruled in a declaratory judgment action regarding copyright filed by Project Moon against the author of the webtoon Leviathan that the webtoon Leviathan is a joint work co-created by Project Moon and the author.”
The article further noted, “According to Lee & Ko, which represented Project Moon, Leviathan was produced under the company’s initiative based on Project Moon’s own fictional universe. The firm stated that the company was deeply involved in key creative processes such as developing the theme, characters, and storyboards, and that the court recognized these facts in its judgment.”

On May 15, 2025, Chosun Ilbo published an article highlighting the achievements of Lee & Ko’s Intellectual Property Practice Group in the long-running patent dispute between Coway and ChungHo. According to the article, the Supreme Court’s Third Division upheld the appellate court’s decision, thereby conclusively rejecting ChungHo’s claims of patent infringement and damages against Coway. This final ruling affirms Coway’s victory, with Lee & Ko representing Coway in the appellate court and the Supreme Court. The article explained that the court of first instance initially found Coway liable for patent infringement, ordering the company to pay KRW 10 billion to ChungHo and to destroy the infringing products. However, the appellate court subsequently overturned this decision, ruling in favor of Coway. The appellate court determined that the essence of ChungHo’s patent was the process of making ice directly from pre-cooled water, while Coway’s product made ice using water at various temperatures. The court also noted significant differences between key components of the two products. The article continued, “The Supreme Court also found that the appellate court’s decision was correct,” adding, “Coway represented by Lee & Ko ultimately prevailed in the 11-year patent infringement lawsuit against ChungHo over ice water purifiers.”

On April 28, 2025, the Maeil Business Newspaper spotlighted Lee & Ko’s Global Disputes Group. The article reported that “Lee & Ko has become the first Korean law firm to establish a comprehensive Global Disputes Group, designed to offer expert-driven and coordinated solutions to complex international disputes.”

The article noted that “the Global Disputes Group, led by Dr. Eun Young Park, is comprised of over ten specialized teams, including the International Arbitration Team, International Litigation Team, International IP Disputes Team, International Trade Team, and Economic Sanctions Team. The Group is structured to provide integrated and coordinated solutions as well as tailored solutions depending on the nature of the disputes and the issue at stake.”

The article further highlighted that “the launch of Lee & Ko’s Global Disputes Group marks an unprecedented initiative by Korean law firms. It is seen as an industry-leading and strategic step, positioning the firm to proactively respond to increasingly complex and sophisticated international disputes.”

On March 30, 2025, Seoul Economic Daily reported on the victory of Lee & Ko’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. The article stated, “Lee & Ko’s Intellectual Property Practice Group successfully represented Wonik PNE, a manufacturer of secondary battery activation devices, in a lawsuit over patent ownership against a competing company.” It further highlighted that “after a prolonged dispute lasting three years and four months, Lee & Ko’s Intellectual Property Practice Group secured decisive victories for Wonik PNE before both the court of first instance and the court of second instance.” During the litigation process, Lee & Ko attorneys proved that the patent was the result of an employee invention developed by Wonik PNE employees during their work duties, thereby preventing the leakage of core technologies.

Lee & Ko has been named Korea's leading law firm in both Patent Contentious and Trademark Prosecution categories at the 2024 Asia IP Awards, as reported by EDaily on November 22, 2024. According to the article, this marks the first time in Korea that a law firm has earned the distinction of Firm of the Year in two categories at the Asia IP Awards. The article further mentioned that "Lee & Ko's Intellectual Property Group continues to deliver exceptional results in both domestic and international patent litigation and strategic counselling, leveraging their profound technical understanding and robust legal reasoning.”

On May 27, 2024, the E-Daily reported that Lee & Ko attorneys Keum Nang Park and Sung Hui Yoon were selected as ‘Top 100 Women in Litigation’ and ‘Top 40 Under 40 2024’ respectively for the Asia-Pacific region as published by Benchmark Litigation. As the Co-head of Lee & Ko’s Healthcare Group, Ms. Keum Nang Park has gained experience in cases related to intellectual property rights such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents. As one of the key attorneys in Lee & Ko’s Construction & Real Estate Group and Environmental Safety Group, Mr. Sung Hui Yoon advises and represents client in the practice areas of construction, real estate, occupational safety and serious accidents, public-private partnership project, administrative litigation etc. 

On May 24, 2024, Jose Ilbo reported Lee & Ko’s winning of awards. Lee & Ko was awarded in four categories at the “Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Awards 2024”. First, Lee & Ko was honored with the ‘Commercial and Transactions Firm of the Year’ and ‘Labour and Employment Firm of the Year’ awards. In addition, the firm also won two “Impact Cases of the Year” awards in recognition of its performance in the largest dispute in South Korean history of patent litigation against a global healthcare company’s global blockbuster heart failure treatment agent and an insurance claim for an accident occurred during the construction of a double-track railway public-private partnership project in Busan. 

On February 13, 2024, Aju News shared in its news article Lee & Ko’s attorney Mr. Un Ho Kim’s remark on a recent update regarding the Act on the Prevention of Unfair Competition and Protection of Trade Secrets.  Mr. Kim explained that, with proposed amendments to the Act now passed at the Cabinet meeting, “businesses should be mindful that damages awarded in intellectual property cases could increase significantly and so is the possibility of criminal punishment, and should establish meticulous measures to prevent infringement of intellectual property rights.”  He further commented, “in the event of an intellectual property dispute, the right holder needs to actively utilize the relevant provisions in the Act.”

Forbes reported an interview with Jaewoo Kwak, a partner of Lee & Ko on January 23, 2024. In the interview, Mr. Kwak, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, stated that although there are currently few cases related to AI worldwide, there will be more in the future. He discussed the intellectual property market for various industries including electronics, materials, chemicals, machinery, automobiles, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology. He also addressed copyright issues related to AI and predicted the trends in laws and regulations governing AI use.

On January 8, 2024, Chosun Biz reported Lee & Ko’s recent win for Boryung Pharmaceutical, noting that “as the efficacy of Dukarb®, Boryung’s hypertension drug, went viral, it became the target of other Korean pharmaceutical companies” but “Boryung has defended its Dukarb® patent all the way from the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board stage to the ensuing trials, with Lee & Ko’s Healthcare Practice Group, led by Ms. Keum Nang Park, playing a key role in the defense.”  Ms. Park remarked in an interview that “this is the first time a Korean pharmaceutical company that has developed an original drug defended its patent rights in a large-scale dispute against multiple generic companies,” further noting that “we felt that this drug should be afforded patent protection especially since it was a new drug developed after many challenges in Korea, where new drug R&D is still rare.”