Kwon Guk-hyeon, managing partner at Law Firm Ije (Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 28), met with this newspaper at the office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 20th and said, "The more a corporation enters a growth stage, the more it needs preemptive legal checks."
Law Firm Ije was founded in 2015 by Managing Partner Kwon and three attorneys from KIM&CHANG who have handled fair trade, labor and employment, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In its 10th year of establishment last year, it posted sales of 11.5 billion won, and currently has 23 domestic attorneys, 2 foreign attorneys, and 7 advisors and other experts.
Kwon said, "Ije now provides advance counsel so that growing corporations do not get stalled later by fair trade issues," adding, "We also support practical responses when small and midsize corporations suffer unfair practices in the course of transactions with large corporations."
Ije launched its public procurement team in June 2024 and established a Public Procurement Research Institute. The aim is to support the entire process from participating in public bids to contract performance and dispute response. Attorney Kim Ki-su (Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 39), formerly of the Public Procurement Service, also joined the interview that day.
In fact, Ije also provided legal counsel in the recent listing process of The Pinkfong Company, which it had advised for a long time. It supported the entire growth process as a "package," from expanding sales through participation in public procurement to an initial public offering (IPO).
Attorney Kim said, "We have built a system capable of comprehensively handling even counsel and government relations work that used to be considered the domain of large law firms," adding, "Our strength is managing legal risks in advance at each stage of corporate growth." The following is a Q&A with Managing Partner Kwon and Attorney Kim.
─ What are Law Firm Ije's strengths in its 11th year since establishment?
Attorney Kwon said, "Some see Ije as a boutique firm strong only in a specific field. But all founding partners are from KIM&CHANG, and the basic culture is to deploy the optimal experts for any case and collaborate. To that we added a boutique firm's characteristic rapid and efficient decision-making structure. We do not stop at passive answers like 'it is difficult' or 'it is legally risky,' but focus on presenting alternatives for how the client can break through the current situation and achieve their goals."
Attorney Kim said, "Horizontal collaboration is our strength. For example, the fair trade team handles cartel sanction cases. If, after that, a disposition restricting eligibility to participate in public procurement is issued, the public procurement team takes over. Regardless of whether we are retained for a given matter, we always perform the necessary work. There are no silos between fields."
─ What recent case outcomes have you achieved in the fair trade field?
Attorney Kwon said, "We recently represented a prime contractor corporation and cleared suspicions of misappropriating a subcontractor's technology. Typically, a large corporation proposes collaboration, then terminates the contract and uses the technology, which becomes an issue, but this case was different.
It was a matter where the prime and subcontractors signed a joint development agreement. The form was subcontracting, but we focused on the point that in substance it was joint development. It was not easy to defend, as the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has recently been broadening the scope of technology misappropriation cases."
Attorney Kwon said, "We also represented a corporation suspected of bid rigging and obtained a corrective order without a penalty surcharge from the FTC. The design supervision bid had a structure known as 'unchal' (運札, award by luck).
When the ordering party, the state or a local government, sets 15 preliminary prices, all bidders draw two each, and the bidder is selected by averaging the four preliminary prices most frequently chosen. It is impossible to predict the winning price. So the industry calls it unchal, meaning 'if you are lucky, you win.'
The FTC viewed one company's participation of five affiliates as collusion, but we emphasized that if there were collusion, a particular company should win at a higher price. We persuaded them that there was no price increase from the ordering party's standpoint."
─ Ije's attorneys from the Public Procurement Service and the Administrative Court are providing public procurement services.
Attorney Kwon said, "For sanctions that corporations often face—such as restrictions on eligibility to participate in bids, cancellation of direct production verification, and cancellation of excellent product designation—we respond from the initial administrative disposition stage with the entire process up to a Supreme Court ruling in mind. We also provide parallel counsel to help with entry into, and growth and expansion within, the procurement market."
─ What are your recent achievements in the public procurement field?
Attorney Kim said, "We led the revision of the direct production verification standards (direct production standards) in the solar sector. Only small and midsize companies can bid on solar power devices, but they must directly produce above a certain ratio. However, the existing standards did not match reality and had contradictions, making them difficult for most companies to comply with. For example, they required direct production even of the steel pipes that support the solar panels. It is difficult for under-resourced small and midsize companies to directly produce pipes like a steel mill. Sanctions were imposed on that basis, but we argued that the standards were excessive and won at first instance. And thanks to our efforts, the problematic standards were also changed."
─ In Nov. last year, The Pinkfong Company, known for "Baby Shark," was listed on KOSDAQ. It was Ije's first listing counsel case.
Attorney Kwon said, "The Pinkfong Company has long received counsel from Ije. Trust was built as we handled most legal issues together, and we took on the listing as an extension of that. It was a case that showed we have the capability to provide listing counsel."
─ What are your strengths in litigation and advisory work?
Attorney Kwon said, "All presiding judges on the litigation team are former Supreme Court research judges. The criminal team consists of an attorney who is a former chief prosecutor and an advisor who is a veteran former police investigation team leader. We are building a track record of meaningful wins across civil, criminal, and administrative fields. Also, when small and midsize corporations sign a monthly advisory contract, a dedicated attorney utilizes the firm's resources to seek practical solutions together. This will be particularly useful for venture and IT corporations or corporations that need public procurement counsel."