Recent Developments

On April 25, 2025, Lee & Ko invited Mamadou Dian Balde, Regional Director of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for East Africa, to hold a public lecture titled “The Realities and Responses to Forced Displacement in East Africa” at Academia Hall, 1st floor of its new building in Jung-gu, Seoul. 

Director Mamadou Dian Balde, who previously served at UNHCR’s South Korea office in the early 2000s, delivered a lecture on the current refugee situations in East Africa, including Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and the Congo, emphasizing the need for legal assistance to address humanitarian challenges in these regions. 

Attorney Seok Pyo Hong, Chair of Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee, who organized this lecture, said, “Addressing forced displacement and the refugee crisis in Africa is an urgent global task requiring open dialogue. We hope this lecture will serve as an opportunity to expand legal assistance to refugees”. He also added, “It is rare for law firms to host a public lecture on refugee issues. Through this meaningful event, Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee has invited an international expert to shed light on the vivid realities of the East African region. We hope this provides a valuable experience for everyone who attends the lecture”.

Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee (Chairman: Managing Partner Won Seok Ko) arranged a volunteer activity at the Love Bread Sharing Center on January 11, 2025.

Nearly 30 employees and their family members joined hands for this heartfelt community initiative at the Seongdong Love Bread Sharing Center of the Korean Red Cross Seoul Branch, which lasted for around three hours from 1:30 p.m. The volunteers baked and sealed pea bean paste bread and corn mayo bread and then delivered these packages to undernourished neighbors in partnership with the Korean Red Cross. 

Partner Seok Pyo Hong (36th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), the auditor of the Committee, commented, “Our employees and their families came together and spent a meaningful time participating in every step, from kneading to packaging. I hope our bread, humble but made with sincere heart, will offer a slice of support to undernourished neighbors.”

Since 2019, Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee has remained committed to this annual volunteer event at the Love Bread Sharing Center with a spirit of “fostering an uplifting culture of social engagement through volunteer programs that are easy to join and open to everyone.”
 

On November 30, 2024, Lee & Ko’s Public Service Committee (Chairman: Managing Partner Ko Won Seok) coordinated a volunteer initiative to deliver coal briquettes to vulnerable residents in Guryong Village, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to extend warmth during the winter season. 

As part of the campaign, the Committee donated 5,000 coal briquettes to support the “Briquettes Sharing Movement for a Warm Korean Peninsula,” 2,000 of which were directly delivered to 10 households by 30 Lee & Ko members and their families.

Since joining this meaningful campaign in 2011, Lee & Ko has donated a total of 69,230 briquettes over the past 14 years.

Chairman and Managing Partner Ko Won Seok expressed his gratitude, "I am immensely proud that Lee & Ko members gather together each year to provide small yet heartfelt support to our neighbors. I wish to emphasize that our Public Service Committee will continue to spread the spirit of sharing to those in need, reaching every corner of our community for years to come.”

Lee & Ko has been selected as the winner of the Specialist award – Pro Bono at the 2024 IFLR Asia Pacific Awards. 

Lee & Ko won the lawsuit against the Incheon International Airport Immigration Bureau for cancellation of the determination not to refer to the refugee status screening on behalf of the refugees Mali and Angola. This case has become a landmark precedent for the South Korean government to conduct the refugee screening in accordance with due process. As a result of the collaboration and exercise of expertise by various attorneys in Lee & Ko, the firm was awarded the Specialist award – Pro bono in recognition of these activities. Lee & Ko plans to continue its vigorous efforts to provide legal support to the underprivileged. 

The IFLR (International Financial Law Review) is a global legal magazine specializing in finance. Annually at the IFLR Asia Pacific Awards, it selects and presents winners from various practice areas such as outstanding law firms, attorneys, deals, in-house counsels and specialist awards in Asia based on extensive research results, including submission by law firms and interviews with attorneys, in-house lawyers and corporate finance professionals.

The Pro Bono Committee of Lee & Ko publishes ‘Pro Bono Report’ that introduce our pro bono activity overall every year, and this year, we also published the report that contains the details of our committee's major pro bono activities of last year.

Last year, 2022,  the Pro Bono Committee of Lee & Ko won the “Pro Bono Award” at the 5th  Korea Legal Award in recognition of its success in an administrative litigation for disclosing administrative guidelines for refugee status determination on behalf of the NANCEN, and led to the acquittal of a refugee in a case of violation of the Immigration Control Act. Furthermore, Lee & Ko hosted “Lee& Ko Friends” program in which attorneys at Lee & Ko and North Korean defectors attending college develop one-on-one mentorship and get a chance to become friends. Also committee provided legal training and advice to ‘Heavenly dream school’, an Alternative School For North Korean youth defectors and free legal consultation and advice to Anna’s House, a social welfare organization.