Yun, Sai Ree
Introduction
Mr. Yun is one of Yulchon’s founding partners, and he serves as the Firm’s Honorary Managing Partner. He also practices primarily in the areas of corporate law (with an emphasis on M&A), antitrust law, taxation, and governmental relations. Mr. Yun’s legal acumen is internationally recognized. He is perennially selected as a leading lawyer by publications such as Chambers Global, International Financial Law Review, Global Competition Review, PLC Cross-Border Handbook, and AsiaLaw. Mr. Yun is the only Korean attorney recognized by the editors of Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides as an expert in three separate fields: competition, taxation, and M&A. Mr. Yun also received the Prime Minister’s Award for Antitrust Administration and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Award for Tax Administration. He has been listed in the International Who’s Who of Professionals since 2005. Mr. Yun earned his exceptional reputation by successfully representing numerous major corporations in many important deals and projects. These include matters involving, for example, Goldman Sachs, the Carlyle Group, Citigroup, GE, AMD, LVMH, RealNetworks, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Life Insurance, LG.Philips LCD, SK Telecom, SK Corporation, Hyundai Motors, Hyundai Capital, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Lotte Shopping, Daum Communications, and Bridgestone Corporation, among others. Mr. Yun has also served as an outside legal advisor to various government agencies such as the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), for whom he also served as a member of the Competition Policy Advisory Board and the Financial Industry Development Deliberation Committee. In addition, he has been a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Korean Broadcasting Commission and he was a Technical Advisor for the Tax Policy Review Council for the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Mr. Yun has written many articles for various publications on a number of subjects including corporate law, antitrust law, and taxation. He has been invited to speak at many conferences and seminars held by prominent international organizations including the International Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, the International Competition Network, and the Tax Executive Institute. Mr. Yun began his career as a public prosecutor with the Pusan District Prosecutor"s Office and later worked as an associate with Lee & Ko law firm in Seoul and Baker & McKenzie law firm in its Chicago and New York offices. Before co-founding Yulchon LLC, Mr. Yun was a partner at Yoon & Partners. He is admitted to practice in three U.S. jursidictions (New York, Illinois, and Washington, D.C.), as well as in Korea.
- 1986 Hastings College of Law, University of California, J.D.
- 1982 Harvard Law School, LL.M.
- 1980 Judicial Research and Training Institute, Supreme Court of Korea
- 1980 Seoul National University, LL.M.
- 1976 Seoul National University, LL.B.
- 1997-present Yulchon LLC
- 2021-present President, Onyul
- 1989-1997 Partner, Yoon & Partners
- 2011-present Arbitrator, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board
- 1986-1989 Associate, Baker & McKenzie (Chicago and New York)
- 1983-1984 Associate, Lee & Ko
- 1980-1982 Public prosecutor, Busan District Prosecutor"s Office
- 1990 Admitted to Bar , District of Columbia (D.C.)
- 1988 Admitted to Bar , New York
- 1986 Admitted to Bar , Illinois
- 1980 Admitted to Bar , Republic of Korea
Korean, English
Representative Matters
- 2015 Advised MBK Partners on its acquisition of Homeplus
- 2012 Represented a major U.S. private equity fund in very large tax disputes
- 2012 Represented a major global automotive parts manufacturers in antitrust cases
- 2011 Represented Samsung Electronics in an LCD cartel case
Awards/Recognition
- 2024-2025 ICON, Korea's Top 100 Lawyers, Asia Business Law Journal
- 2024-2025 Senior statesman, Competition & Antitrust, asialaw
- 2024-2025 Expert Consultant, Capital markets, M&A, IFLR 1000
- 2022 Myoungduk Award (Lawyer of the Year), Seoul Bar Association
- 2023 Expert Consultant, Capital Markets, M&A, IFLR 1000 (Edition 33)
News/Publications
Chapter on Korea, “The Merger Control Review,” 9th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author)(2018) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Cartels and Leniency Review”, 6th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author) (2018) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Merger Control Review”, 8th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author)(2017) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Cartels and Leniency Review,” 5th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author)(2017) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Merger Control Review”, 7th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author)(2016) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Merger Control Review”, 6th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author) (2015) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Cartels and Leniency Review,” 3rd Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author) (2015) download
Korea’s Aggressive Antitrust Enforcement in Financial Product Markets, Asian-Mena Counsel, Volume 12 Issue 5 (Co-author) (2015) download
Rights and Responsibilities of Directors (2015) download
Chapter on Korea, “The Merger Control Review”, 5th Edition, Law Business Research (Co-author)(2014) download
Dominance, Getting the Deal Through (Co-author)(2010) download
Antitrust Law in Korea, The International Lawyer Volume 43 Number 2 Year-In-Review, ABA (Co-author) (2009) download
Regulation of Business Combination under the Antimonopoly, Regulation and Fair Trade Act with Emphasis on the Case Law, Journal of Korean Law Vol.2 (2002)
Antitrust Law in Korea, International Antitrust Law & Policy, Fordham Corp L. Inst. (2002)
Tax Aspects of Derivative Financial Instruments, 49th Congress of the international Fiscal Association(1995)
Transfer Pricing in South Korea, International Transfer Pricing Laws, CCH Inc.(1994)
The Regulation of Conglomerate Mergers in Korea, Harvard Law School (LL.M. thesis)(1982)
