7 September, 2015
The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) is pleased to appoint Nicole (Heeseung) Lee, a former legal counsel at Samsung Electronics, as HKIAC’s Deputy Counsel. Ms Lee began work at HKIAC on 24 August 2015.
A Korean national who is qualified in New York, Ms Lee practised for two years at a Korean firm, Kim & Lee, before joining Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd in Seoul, where she spent nearly six years working as Legal Counsel. In her previous role at Samsung, Ms Lee gained significant experience in negotiating arbitration agreements to be included in a wide range of transactions. Her in-house experience also included drafting and reviewing software license agreements, product development agreements, consulting agreements and various other transaction documents for Samsung.
Ms Lee heads HKIAC’s Seoul office, the Centre’s first overseas office, and replaces Sunhwa Jeong who has moved in-house. Ms Lee will work closely with the Hong Kong office to raise HKIAC’s profile in Korea. As Deputy Counsel, she will also be involved in the administration of Korea-related cases, with support from the Hong Kong team.
Ms Lee joins at a time when Korea-Hong Kong trade is experiencing an average annual growth rate of 11% and Hong Kong is becoming a popular place of arbitration for Korea-related disputes. HKIAC has seen a noticeable growth in its caseload involving Korean parties and has handled over 50 such cases in recent years. These include disputes between Korean parties and their counterparts in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Norway and the British Virgin Islands. With the addition of Ms Lee, HKIAC anticipates a further growth in the number of these cases being submitted to the Centre.
HKIAC’s Korea office was opened in Seoul in May 2013 and is part of the Seoul International Dispute Resolution Center (Seoul IDRC). The office is centrally located with access to state-of-the-art hearing facilities. Parties to HKIAC arbitration are free to conduct their hearings at the Seoul IDRC and/or designate any city in Korea as the seat of arbitration. With the Korea office and Ms Lee’s expertise, HKIAC aims to respond to the needs of the local market in real time and to bring first class dispute resolution services closer to its Korean users.
Ms Lee speaks Korean and English fluently and has a good working knowledge of Spanish.
