Lawyer Lee Junhee from Coupang and Yulchon
Joins Japan TMI Law Office
It was recently confirmed that attorney Lee Jun-hee (50, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 29, photo), who previously served as Vice President of Legal Affairs at Coupang and as the head lawyer of the fintech team at law firm Yulchon, has joined the large Tokyo-based law firm TMI Associates as Korean Counsel this month. This marks the first time a senior attorney with over 20 years of experience from a major domestic law firm has joined the headquarters of a large overseas law firm.
In a phone interview with Legal Times on the 19th, Attorney Lee said, “As local law firms see an increase in Korean companies and startups entering the Japanese market and the growing importance of this trend, it seems they recognized the need for lawyers with senior-level experience and networks.” He added, “More opportunities will open up for Korean legal professionals who are proficient in foreign languages and possess a business mindset.”
Attorney Lee graduated from Seoul Sangmun High School and Seoul National University’s Department of Law. After opening his practice in 2003, he worked for 13 years at Kim & Chang law firm, leading the fintech team. He then worked at Nishimura & Asahi law firm in Japan, served as head of legal affairs at Hyundai Card, and Vice President of Legal Affairs at Coupang, leading corporate legal teams before returning to law firms. Since 2020, he has been the head of the e-commerce and fintech team at Yulchon LLC.
Within the legal community, there is an analysis that the trend of domestic legal professionals, which had been dominated by the influx of foreign law firms and foreign lawyers since the legal market opened in 2011, will reverse with the overseas expansion of K-lawyers who have built expertise, foreign language skills, and international experience.
Japan’s TMI Associates is recognized as a local “big firm,” ranking 5th in terms of number of attorneys (535) as of 2022. TMI’s recruitment of Attorney Lee coincides with the increasing demand from domestic IT companies entering the Japanese market.
Attorney Lee also told Legal Times, “The once rigid Korea-Japan relations have eased considerably over the past two to three years, making it easier for Korean companies to enter Japan.” He analyzed, “Especially, domestic digital startups in fields like artificial intelligence (AI) and IT are actively entering Japan in response to local demand, which is a positive factor.”
The first case of a domestic attorney entering Japan was Attorney Lee Hu-dong (60, class 17), representative lawyer of law firm Bae, Kim & Lee. In 2002, in his 12th year of practice, he became the first Korean lawyer to register as a foreign legal consultant in Japan and worked as head of Bae, Kim & Lee’s foreign legal consultant office in Tokyo until 2007. However, at that time, the demand for legal services between Korea and Japan was different from today.
Recently, domestic IT startups have been actively knocking on the door of Japan’s “digital niche market.” Japan has traditionally had high demand in the digital sector, but the market has been asymmetrical with insufficient supply and utilization.
At the end of last month, the final selected companies for Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “Overseas Company Attraction Program,” which supports up to 100 million yen (approximately 900 million KRW) in local entry costs, were announced. Notably, among the eight startups selected, seven were Korean startups. Additionally, there are already proven successful Korean startups such as the online non-face-to-face customer consultation service “Channel Talk,” which generates 25% of its sales in Japan, and the audio platform “Spoon Radio,” which has higher sales and traffic in Japan than in Korea.
In particular, the local legal market is paying attention to Korean legal tech companies. Law & Company (CEO Kim Bon-hwan), operator of the legal platform “LawTalk,” attended the “Korea-Japan Startup Cooperation Forum” held earlier this month at the Tokyo Keidanren Hall, meeting with representatives from major IT companies SoftBank and Rakuten Group. Legal AI solution company BHSN (CEO Lim Jeong-geun) established a Japanese subsidiary in September last year.
In last year’s “World Digital Competitiveness Ranking” by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, Korea ranked 6th out of 64 countries, while Japan ranked 32nd, marking its lowest ever.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, as of 2022, the digitalization progress of Japanese companies is about 48%, not even reaching half. The Japanese government has decided to invest 10 trillion yen (approximately 89 trillion KRW) in the startup market by 2027. The goal is to accelerate “digital transformation (DX)” by attracting a large number of overseas startups, creating opportunities for domestic legal tech startups and other IT companies.
Reporter Jo Han-ju, Legal Times
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
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