Bae, Kim & Lee brings in former Suwon District Prosecutors' Office chief Moon Hong-sung; Yulchon adds financial expert Je Ok-pyeong

Moon Hong-sung (left), attorney at Bae, Kim & Lee, and Je Ok-pyeong, attorney at Yulchon [Provided by each firm]
Moon Hong-sung (left), attorney at Bae, Kim & Lee, and Je Ok-pyeong, attorney at Yulchon [Provided by each firm]

South Korea's major law firms are accelerating their recruitment of outside specialists with hands-on experience at prosecutors' offices and financial regulators. The push reflects growing demand for professionals who can help companies navigate criminal investigations, regulatory probes and administrative sanctions as the legal risks surrounding businesses intensify.

According to legal and investment banking industry sources Thursday, Bae, Kim & Lee has brought on Moon Hong-sung, former chief of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office and a 26th-class graduate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Moon will join the firm's criminal law group, focusing on corporate criminal defense and white-collar crime.

Moon is a special investigations specialist who has handled major corruption and economic crime cases across corporate, financial and defense industry sectors. His career includes stints as chief of the special investigations third division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, head of the special investigations division at the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, and deputy chief of the joint investigation unit on defense procurement corruption. After his promotion to district chief, he served as chief of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office and the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and led major corruption and economic crime investigations as head of the anti-corruption and organized crime division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. He left the prosecution service in 2023 after completing his term as chief of the Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office.

Bae, Kim & Lee has been steadily building out its criminal law group with a string of recent hires: Lee Hee-dong, former first deputy chief of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office and a 32nd-class Judicial Research and Training Institute graduate; Jang Woo-sung, a former senior superintendent who served on the special counsel team investigating the insurrection case; and Jang Seong-won, a former chief of both the Paju and Suseo police stations.

The scope of legal advisory work has expanded well beyond litigation and general counsel to encompass regulatory examinations, criminal investigations and a range of administrative sanctions. Corporate criminal matters and fields such as finance and securities in particular require not only a command of the relevant laws but also a working understanding of how supervisory and investigative agencies operate in practice — driving firms to compete aggressively for alumni of those agencies.

Drawing on his years of special investigations experience and prosecutorial leadership, Moon is expected to advise clients on response strategies at each stage of a criminal investigation. He will also collaborate with specialists in areas including financial and securities transactions, serious accidents and industrial safety, and trade secrets and technology leaks, depending on the nature of each case.

Yulchon is in the midst of its own push to recruit financial sector talent. The firm recently brought on Je Ok-pyeong, a 38th-class Judicial Research and Training Institute graduate, as a partner in its financial and securities group. Je holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in law from Korea University and has practiced in corporate and financial advisory work. From 2013 to 2018, she worked at the Financial Supervisory Service in its corporate finance improvement bureau, sanctions review bureau and capital markets investigation bureau.

She currently serves as an outside expert for financial regulators, sitting on the FSS's no-action letter review committee, the Financial Services Commission's legal advisory committee and the FSS's financial dispute mediation committee. Her extensive practical experience in FSS examinations and sanctions, investigations into capital markets law violations including unfair trading, and financial dispute mediation is expected to provide clients with substantive guidance.

Yulchon recruited Shin Sang-rok, head of the FSC's capital markets investigation division, in March. The firm has since secured a series of senior figures from financial regulators: Jeong Wan-gyu, director of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit; Chae Mun-seok, deputy director of the FSS's sanctions review bureau; Ahn Byeong-nam, team leader of the continuous monitoring team at the FSS's bank examination bureau; and Kim Yong-jin, an attorney who worked in the FSS's financial investment examination bureau and dispute mediation bureau. Yulchon also named Han Seo-hee as head of the virtual assets team at its Digital Asset Center. Han previously served on the FSS's virtual asset examination and supervision preparatory task force and on the FSC's capital markets securities classification committee.

Industry insiders broadly agree that law firms' recruitment of outside specialists will continue for the foreseeable future, with attention turning to whether the competition will intensify into an all-out race to secure professionals with frontline experience at prosecutors' offices and financial regulators.


park.jiyeong@heraldcorp.com