As a lead partner in Lee & Ko's International Trade Practice Group, Ms. Hyunsoo Joo has more than 10 years' experience as a lawyer working on international trade law and customs matters in Korea. Ms. Joo has advised various public sector clients (such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and numerous commercial/private sector clients on a broad range of FTA, WTO and BITs related issues. She has extensive knowledge of Korean trade policies and economic matters, as well as special expertise regarding the steel, chemical and electronics industries
Throughout her career, Ms. Joo has been actively involved in many FTA negotiations and WTO disputes relating to the steel, chemical and electronics industries. She has in particular been prominently involved as a representative of the Korean government in analyses, discussions and other key processes relating to the KORUS FTA, Korea-EU FTA, Korea-ASEAN FTA, Korea-India CEPA, Korea-Canada FTA, KOREA-Mexico FTA, Korea-Chile FTA, and Korea-China FTA. She has also handled various WTO litigation cases, including, among others, the dispute concerning Korea's anti-dumping duties on imports of certain paper products from Indonesia, the dispute concerning US anti-dumping and countervailing measures on large residential-use washing machines from Korea and the US anti-dumping measures relating to certain OCTG (oil country tubular goods) from Korea.
Ms. Joo has extensive experience in advising clients on trade remedies and customs matters relating to anti-dumping, subsidies, safeguard and tariff classifications, as well as assisting many Korean and multi-national corporations in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) matters under various Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and FTAs, including, among others, those falling under the arbitration rules of the ISCID and UNCITRAL for a wide range of industries. Most recently, she successfully served as counsel in the second ICSID claim brought by a foreign investor against Korea and have served as counsel for the Korean Government in the WTO litigation including US safeguard measures on Solar and Large Residential Washers since January 2018. Ms. Joo has served as the legal counsel of the Korean government during the process of Korea-US FTA revision as well as Korea-UK FTA negotiation.
She has lectured as an adjunct professor at Hanyang University School of Law since 2017, served as an Executive Director of the Korean Society of International Economic Law and also regularly participates in conferences and seminars on international Trade.