[Law Firm Hidden Player] Daeryun Kwak Na-mi, Myung Jae-ho, Ahn Il-hwan, demonstrating synergy between law and practice [Numbers]

Law firms are driven by the capabilities of not only lawyers but also experts and advisors in each field. We introduce through interviews the role that experts in various fields, including securities firms, financial authorities, and banking, play as ‘hidden helpers’ of law firms.

Expert Nami Kwak, a U.S. patent agent, joined Daeryun after working at KBK Patent Firm, Samsung Medison Patent Licensing Team, Samsung SDI Legal Team, and SK Hynix Non-Memory Semiconductor Research Institute.

The reason Expert Kwak became interested in law firms was because he felt disappointed that the scope of cases he could experience within the company was limited. I thought that at a law firm, I could be exposed to a wider variety of cases and could also serve as a bridge to help Korean companies expanding overseas.

Expert Kwak said, “Daeryun in particular is well-known as a conscientious law firm that provides high-quality services at a reasonable cost to whoever requests it,” and added, “I deeply sympathize with this philosophy and decided to join.” At Daeryun, Specialist Kwak mainly works on overseas patent applications and domestic patent and intellectual property litigation requested by lawyers. We work with overseas lawyers to develop business and provide customer consultation on overseas filing and licensing strategies.

Expert Kwak’s competitiveness is that he can understand both technical and legal language. He said, “Practical experience encompassing large corporations, universities, and large patent offices, as well as experience performing patent work such as responding to overseas patent lawsuits, technology commercialization, and value evaluation are helpful.”

Expert Kwak cited the most rewarding experience as verifying whether the patents of researchers from the university's industry-academic cooperation group had the potential for commercialization through an exhibition in Singapore. He said, “We were able to support the process of connecting ideas from the lab to the world through patents and commercialization, rather than simply ending them in papers,” and added, “I also remember that the overseas patent portfolio created in cooperation with venture companies received an A+ in the patent valuation.”

“In the end, the most meaningful thing is helping clients in difficult situations open new paths through the language of patents,” he said. “These moments are the driving force that keeps me going.”

Myeong Jae-ho, a customs expert, worked as a customs broker for about 20 years. He served as an export consultant for the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, a deliberation member of the Export Deliberation Committee of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, a member of the Compliance Trader (CP) evaluation committee of the Trade Security Management Agency, and the head of the trade review team at E-Land Group. In this process, he witnessed that even if you have a good idea, commercial value, and capital power, if you overlook compliance, that is, your business can be fatally injured.

Expert Myeong said, “In relation to compliance, selecting a professional and competent law firm is also important enough to determine the success or failure of a business. This was attractive and became a strong motivation for me to work at the law firm.”

Expert Member Myeong's strength is the implementation of 'customized compliance' based on practice. It also specializes in overseas customs laws and system advice, customs assessment, foreign exchange transactions, and strategic materials. Based on this, he is in charge of legal advice, response to legal violation cases, and litigation support at Daeryun. Recently, demand for advice on foreign laws, including the U.S. customs system, has increased rapidly.

Expert Myeong said that he had a memorable experience supporting the Korea-US FTA country of origin investigation of a small and medium-sized company that exclusively imported relays from GE in the US. At the time, he had to go on a business trip to Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, to prove local production. When we first started, we expected that it would be impossible to obtain trade secret data from an American company that was strict about information security and national security. However, he actively persuaded GE and received the data, and played a decisive role in significantly reducing the fines and fines for the company.

Expert Member Myeong said, “The one-week journey to the unfamiliar yet beautiful Caribbean gem of Puerto Rico was a short but powerful memory that can never be erased,” and added, “I was proud of the fact that we did our best as a partner for our company’s global expansion.”

Advisor Ahn Il-hwan, who has been in public office for 35 years, was mainly responsible for designing and executing the country's budget, finances, and macroeconomic policies. While serving as Senior Secretary to the Economy and Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, he overcame national crises and played a role in reading the major trends of the economy.

Advisor Ahn said, “I wanted to use this experience to help make legal judgments on bills and administrative regulations in the private sector,” and added, “I thought that there are times when expertise in understanding policies and constructing logic is needed in the work area of ​​law firms, so I took on a new challenge at Daeryun.”

Advisor Ahn's job is to read the macroeconomic and financial market trends and provide direction so that companies can preemptively manage the legal and policy risks they face. We review domestic and international economic indicators, financial market trends, and the government's major economic policy announcements, and based on this, we collaborate with lawyers in advisory meetings related to financial regulation, fair trade, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and overseas investment.

While lawyers analyze risks from a legal perspective, Advisor Ahn helps companies make optimal decisions by predicting the economic ripple effects and financial impact of the issue. Regarding this, he said, “We are at the forefront of creating synergy between the two specialized fields of law and economics.”

Advisor Ahn said, “Companies often feel the limits of legal response in the face of complex financial regulations or unpredictable market fluctuations,” and added, “We will continue to help companies establish financial and management strategies for sustainable growth.”

Reporter Park Seon-woo (closely@bloter.net)

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[Law Firm Hidden Player] Daeryun Kwak Nami, Myung Jae-ho, and Ahn Il-hwan, demonstrating synergy between law and practice [Numbers] (Shortcut)