[Meet the Law Firm] Kye-seong Jeong, CEO of Kim & Chang, “Diversification of global issues requires integrated support”

“Global factors affecting business are increasing day by day, such as uncertainty in the external environment, geopolitical risks, economic sanctions, and strengthening of export controls. This is why customers carefully review legal issues as much as business issues from the beginning of business.”

On the 22nd of last month, Jeong Gye-seong (75, 6th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), who met at the office of Kim & Chang Law Firm in Northgate Building, Jongno-gu, Seoul, diagnosed the biggest change in the corporate consulting field as follows.

As tariffs, trade disputes, and supply chain issues overlap, the number of things companies must consider when expanding overseas has increased significantly.

It is necessary to carefully consider in advance whether the trading partner is subject to sanctions, what kind of permission is required for export, and what kind of permission is required in the importing country.

CEO Jeong said, “In the past, we only had to review issues in one field, but now we need to review covering multiple fields,” and added, “As the impact of legal issues on business increases, customer expectations are bound to increase.”

The roles required of law firms have also expanded accordingly.

He said, “Law firms must comprehensively analyze the laws and regulations of various countries and then help clients make decisions and present workable solutions.”

Established in 1973, Kim & Chang grew around 'inbound' business, which brings foreign capital and technology into Korea, such as the introduction of foreign loans by domestic banks and companies.

CEO Jeong joined Kim & Chang in 1976 as the ‘No. 1 Associate Lawyer’ and has observed changes in the industry for 50 years.

Meanwhile, as Korean companies expanded overseas, the scope of law firms expanded beyond its borders.

CEO Jeong said, “Based on our network of experts by industry, business field, and region and overseas law firms, we are providing integrated services that our customers need regardless of domestic or foreign regions.”

In the past, they focused on domestic legal advice and limited to recommending local law firms for overseas matters, but now they work with local law firms and take charge of coordination to help customers solve problems at once without having to visit multiple locations.

Accumulation and sharing of experience was cited as a way to increase the expertise of members.

CEO Jeong Gye-seong emphasized, "To secure expertise, one must not only acquire theoretical knowledge but also steadily accumulate experience and know-how by handling many cases. It is important for individual lawyers to do their best in their respective fields and achieve good results, but completeness of knowledge can be achieved by sharing and exchanging that experience and know-how with fellow seniors and juniors."

In the same context, we are constantly nurturing experts in each field and industry and ensuring that they cooperate closely.

CEO Jeong explains that just as medical staff from each field form a team before a major surgery, when a case comes in, a team of experts from each field is formed.

This year, Kim & Chang expanded and reorganized the existing New International Tax Research Institute into the ‘Global Tax Response Center’.

The internal control team and anti-money laundering team were integrated and expanded to launch the 'Financial Risk Consulting Center' and deploy about 100 professional personnel.

The Constitutional Litigation Center, the National High-Tech Industry Response TF (Task Force), the Overlapping Listing TF, and the Data Center Specialist Team were also newly established.

Regarding the reform of the criminal justice system, he said, "There may be many changes in the practice of investigation and trial," and "We will closely look at the impact that changes in the system will have on practice."

In particular, there were concerns that a prolonged investigation could be a burden on companies.

He said, “If an investigation or trial is in progress, business activities may be disrupted,” and “There are cases where a company cannot participate in a bid while indicted or there are obstacles when receiving a visa abroad.”

Regarding the introduction of generative artificial intelligence (AI), it was said that the focus was on securing information security and reliability along with work efficiency.

Kim & Chang mainly uses the legal AI platform ‘Harvey’ and the general-purpose AI ‘Gemini Enterprise’ and has developed its own AI translation system for mass document translation. AI compliance training covering personal information protection and information security is also required to ensure that lawyers use AI tools responsibly.

CEO Jeong said, "The purpose of introducing AI is to support lawyers' professional judgment and provide more efficient legal services to customers. Using AI for repetitive and high-volume work allows lawyers to focus more on reviewing facts and issues and making legal judgments."

The results generated by AI are reviewed by the attorney in charge for accuracy, completeness, and appropriateness, and legal research goes through a process of comparing the source with the original text.

Regarding training for lawyers with low experience, he said, "Even if generative AI helps with basic tasks, training to accurately grasp the facts and make judgments based on legal grounds is important." He added, "We emphasize that you should not accept the results written by AI as is, but reexamine the facts and evidence to carefully review errors or loopholes in logic."

He predicted, “Even if the use of AI in legal services increases in the future, lawyers with a legal mind will ultimately be competitive.”

CEO Jeong Gye-seong selected ‘organizational culture’ as a value that Kim & Chang should maintain in the future.

He said, “We must continue the responsibility of thinking about customers’ problems as if they were our own, the attitude of respecting different opinions and finding better answers, and the culture of sharing experiences between seniors and juniors.”

We are also actively involved in social contribution.

CEO Jeong said, “Adding expertise to areas where legal help is inadequate or issues of great public interest is a social contribution that can leverage the strengths of a law firm.”

In 2014, Kim & Chang supported international sports arbitration in relation to the doping test procedures for national badminton players Lee Yong-dae and Kim Ki-jeong, and also provided legal advice on the restoration project of the Korean Embassy in Washington, DC.

Recently, we conducted a legal support project for overseas startups with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Representative Jeong said, “We will expand the foundation and scope of pro bono (public interest advocacy) so that the expertise and participation of our members can be effectively utilized in public interest activities.”

Kim & Chang is Korea's largest law firm with over 2,100 professionals, including domestic and foreign lawyers, patent attorneys, and accountants.

It has been selected as one of the world's top 100 law firms for 13 consecutive years in 'The Global 200' published by American Lawyer, an American legal magazine.