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Il Yeon Kim, a partner at South Korean firm Bae, Kim & Lee, discusses his recognition as one of the 2024 ALB Asia Top 15 Litigators. He speaks about his recent high-profile case involving bribery and government manipulation, his expertise in various areas of litigation, and his personal principles for handling complex cases, emphasizing thorough preparation and client communication.

Congratulations on being named one of the ALB Asia Top 15 Litigators. Can you share a recent high-profile case you’ve worked on and what made it particularly challenging or significant?

It was on an indicted criminal trial filed against the executives of Group A for bribing former President Geun Hye Park in the form of providing financial support for horseback riding support for the daughter of Seo-won Choi, the shadowy confidante.” It was a so-called ‘government affairs manipulation case’.

More than 80 trials have been held in four years, leading to fierce battles between special prosecutors and lawyers, and the media called it the “Trial of the Century” and it attracted the public’s attention.

The trial had a significant impact on the politics and society of the Republic of Korea, and important legal issues were addressed. In the end, some of the prosecutions were convicted and some were acquitted throughout the Supreme Court. There were some regrets in the results, but it was an important case where I could learn and experience a lot as a litigator.

What areas of litigation do you specialize in, and how has your expertise evolved over the years to address changing legal landscapes in Asia?

I’ve experienced and worked on various litigation cases including criminal, civil, and administrative. Among criminal proceedings, in particular, I’m specialized in cases involving the Capital Markets Act, corporate embezzlement and breach of trust, bribery, trade secret infringement, election, and serious accident cases. Among civil and administrative litigation, my specialty includes commercial case, labor case, personal information infringement case, and real estate cases.

Asia, including the Republic of Korea, has rapidly changed and grown over the past few years in all fields of politics, economy, society, science and technology, and the legal environment in the field of transmission is changing day by day. I continue to study to respond to these changes, and I’m trying to maintain and develop my expertise through training in the professional field of the bar association and the latest newsletter from the law firm. In particular, I’m actively taking on new types of cases and trying to develop my expertise in the process of handling the cases.

What is your personal philosophy or approach when it comes to handling complex litigation cases, and how do you believe this has contributed to your success in the field?

I have two important principles I go by when conducting litigation: thorough preparation and sufficient communication with clients. First, I think the success or failure of a litigation case depends on how thoroughly the attorney has reviewed, analyzed and prepared the case. Lawyers must carefully examine records and evidence to understand and verify facts better than anyone else, and lawyers must thoroughly research related laws and precedents to be legally prepared. Second, communicating sufficiently with the client is not only the lawyer’s duty, but also necessary to success-fully handle litigation cases.

The client will know the case better than anyone else, having experienced the case firsthand. By having a lot of conversations and discussions with the client, lawyers can realize facts or issues that they have not thought of and can greatly assist in discovering important evidence. I believe these principles will be more valuable in complex and difficult litigation cases.

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This year, Asian Legal Business has spotlighted 15 IP practitioners across Asia who are recognised to have excelled in the increasingly strategic field. Through a solid track record, they have demonstrated themselves as reliable solution providers to their clients, formidable competitors to their peers, and creative pioneers to their followers.

What strategies do you credit for your recognition as one of ALB Asia’s Top 15 Intellectual Property Lawyers?

I have more than 25 years of experience in dealing with disputes related to various issues in the IP area. As an IP attorney, I have handled challenging and complicated cases across the ﬁeld, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and IP contract disputes. Navigating the labyrinth of IP law, I have endeavoured to explore issues proactively and ﬁgure out the optimal solution that my clients want from IP disputes. I believe such efforts have led to favorable outcomes.

Can you share a notable intellectual property case where your innovative approach led to a favorable outcome?

As it is hard to pick just one single notable case, I would like to talk about cases involving “trade secrets” in general. In the IP area, trade secret cases 1) revolve around technologies and industries with the greatest relevance in each era of history, and 2) usually entail a panoply of issues including civil and criminal cases as well as overseas disputes, posing a more daunting challenge than in any other IP areas, and thus demanding the highest caliber of experienced attorneys—all the more so because they often escalate into criminal cases, and attorneys must delve into a fact-ﬁnding mission and devise case-speciﬁc strategies based on the understanding of technology at issue. From 2000, I have been engaged in trade secret cases across various ﬁelds including mechanics, chemicals, communications, energy generation, LED, polysilicon, rechargeable batteries, and pharmaceuticals, accumulating know-how on digesting the technology at issue and delivering a holistic analysis of the trade secret infringement and a comprehensive set of ideas for raising the issue.

How do you stay updated on industry trends, and how has this commitment influenced your success in intellectual property law?

IP area, in its essence, is a legal framework on “technology and culture”. In other words, IP attorneys must equip themselves with the understanding of technology and culture deﬁn-ing each era and the accompanying insight into the present legal system as well as foresight into potential legal issues in the future. With this in mind, I have always kept abreast of industry and technology trends and various events and new business in the area of culture in an effort to provide proactive input for new issues that ﬁgured on my clients’ radar. I believe such trend-monitoring efforts have opened up opportunities for me to be engaged in newly emerged disputes and high-proﬁle cases.

Even as the regional economy recovers from the pandemic, the risk of disputes remains a major concern with issues emerging from supply chain disruptions, digital transformation, evolving ESG considerations and other factors. Having the best litigators on your side is thus critical, and the ALB Top 15 North Asia Litigators ranking spotlights some of the leading practitioners in Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea.

Can you tell us about a particularly challenging case you have handled in the past year or so?

I successfully represented a Korea company as a defendant in a case, main issues of which were vicarious liability and the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil of overseas subsidiary. As you know, such legal issues are not black or white. They are rather matter of holistic determination based on various circumstantial facts with their own grey scales in each. In that case, it was so difﬁcult to predict the result even for me who spent more than 20 years in courtrooms. In addition, the governing law was Chinese law. I was very fortunate to have better support from our China Team than the claimant’s counsels.

How do you stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the legal field, and how do you use this knowledge to benefit your clients?

First of all, I learn a lot from my colleagues. BKL offers various occasions to be taught almost on daily basis. We also have well organized extensive DB system being updated every second. I also try to make time to attend colloquiums, conferences or symposiums at home and abroad. Of course, I look over the articles posted by legal magazines or newsletters from ABL, IBA, WLG etc. not to miss any important legal development. As most of our clients want to be advised and helped by BKL on the frontline issues without precedents, it is very important to catch up with the latest discussion among professionals and academics.

How do you approach the process of preparing for a trial, and how would you describe your strategy for effectively presenting a client’s case in court?

Representation in a courtroom mainly consists of explanation and persuasion. To explain well, you must digest the case thoroughly before saying anything to judges. If you are not familiar with the issues, it will demand you more time and effort. If you like to learn new things, it will help. To persuade well, you must be able to see the case and its development from judge’s point of view. In doing so, you should always have their cognitive biases in your mind. In the end, they are human too.

Litigators are valued for their ability to solve complex problems and adapt quickly to changing circumstances. As the second edition of the ALB Asia's Top 15 Litigators shows, these attributes have never been more valuable, particularly in the shadow of the COVID pandemic.

Can you tell us about some of your notable cases in the past 12 months?

Most of them are confidential. One that has already been published in the news would be the diesel-gate rooted criminal/ civil case in which Client had great success, especially compared to other giant global motor makers. Another case where a globally well-known candy brand was involved, Client has multi-jurisdictional dispute in Germany, Singapore and Korea. We had a huge victory in the Singaporean court case last year, and hope it would trigger a chain effect in Germany and Korea.

What has been your biggest motivation in your career?

As a judge, I believe it was justice. As a litigator in private practice, it was and still is the desire to win and/or provide the best solution for Client.

In your opinion, what separates a great litigator from a merely good one?

Frankly not sure if I deserve this fundamental question, but roughly, maybe it would be the possession of both of the bird’s eye view and the worm’s eye view. It requires to carefully review raw materials while possessing the ability to design a master plan, and is a very tough task since you have to be versed in every details of the (usually extremely complicated) case.

A conversation with Il Yeon Kim, one of 2024 ALB Top 15 North Asia Litigators

A conversation with Jihyun Kim, one of ALB Asia's 2023 Top 15 IP Lawyers

A conversation with Seong Soo Kim, one of ALB Asia's Top 15 North Asia Litigators 2023

A conversation with Tony DongWook Kang, one of ALB Asia Top 15 Litigators 2022

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