Recent Developments

On February 27, 2026, The JoongAng featured an article on the closing party marking the successful completion of the “Lee & Ko Friends” program hosted by the Pro Bono Committee of Lee & Ko. The article highlighted that “Lee & Ko attorneys and North Korean defector university students came together to successfully complete the 6th ‘Lee & Ko Friends’ program, where participants were paired as ‘Older Friend’ (Friend Mentor) and ‘Young Friend’ (Friend Mentee) to build meaningful friendships.” It further explained that “This program goes beyond a conventional mentoring program, providing participants with meaningful opportunities to build trust, share their interests and experiences, and grow together. In particular, by fostering lasting relationships rather than one-time support, it has achieved high levels of satisfaction and is regarded as a model example of pro bono activity.”

On January 23, 2026, Herald Economy featured an article that nearly 20 employees and their family members of Lee & Ko took part in a volunteer service activity at the Love Bread Sharing Center. According to the article, “Approximately 20 Lee & Ko employees and their family members participated in the Love Bread Sharing Center volunteer program at the Seoul Chapter of the Korean Red Cross, completing the full bread-making process, from kneading and fermentation to shaping, baking, and packaging, to produce cream-filled buns and blueberry muffins. Close to 400 freshly baked loaves were shared with undernourished neighbors in the local community through the Korean Red Cross. Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee further noted that, “We have launched the Love Bread Sharing Center volunteer program in 2019 with the aim of ‘fostering an uplifting culture of social engagement through volunteer programs that are easy to join and open to everyone.’ Since then, the program has grown into a social engagement initiative, bringing employees and their families together each year to contribute to the community and share the value of giving.”

On December 11, 2025, The Law Times covered Lee & Ko’s continued commitment to the Briquettes of Love Campaign. The article underscored that, “Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee has participated for 15 consecutive years since 2011 in the Briquettes of Love Campaign to support vulnerable communities during the winter season, with its cumulative donations now totaling 74,230 coal briquettes.”

On October 29, 2025, AJU Press covered Lee & Ko’s participation in the “First Winter LoveCoat Sharing” Festival, an outerwear donation initiative. 

Opening donations of outer garments from October 16 to 24, Lee & Ko officers and employees actively contributed a total of nine boxes of coats, jumpers, padded jackets, and other outerwear.

Celebrating its eighth year, the “First Winter LoveCoat Sharing” Festival is hosted by Naeil News and organized by the non-profit corporation Bapilkkum, with sponsorship from Shinhan Financial Group. 

These donated garments are first cleaned by a professional laundromat and listed on the official festival website, allowing eligible foreign residents in Korea to order up to two items for delivery by courier.

On January 14, 2025, the Law Times featured Lee & Ko’s heartwarming participation in bread making program at the Love Bread Sharing Center. In this event, nearly 30 employees and their family members came together to knead and bake bread for around three hours starting at 1:30 p.m. and delivered these freshly baked loaves to undernourished neighbors in partnership with the Korean Red Cross. Since 2019, Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee has remained committed to this annual volunteer activity at the Love Bread Sharing Center with a spirit of “fostering an uplifting culture of social engagement through volunteer programs that are easy to join and open to everyone.”

On December 5, 2024, Korea Herald Business highlighted the wholehearted participation of Lee & Ko in this year’s Briquettes of Love Campaign. Lee & Ko’s Public Service Committee coordinated volunteer efforts to deliver coal briquettes to those most vulnerable in Guryong Village, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to provide much-needed warmth in the winter months and further donated 5,000 coal briquettes to support the “Briquettes Sharing Movement for a Warm Korean Peninsula.” The Committee has been an active participant in this campaign since 2011, contributing a total of 69,230 briquettes over the past 14 years.

On November 17, 2024, the Korea Economic Daily reported on the refugee litigation represented by Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee. The Korea Economic Daily introduced that “large law firms are increasingly entering the legal market regarding immigration and nationality, which was once considered the area of individual practitioners”, and added that “Lee & Ko provides legal pro bono support by signing an MOU with NANCEN, a non-profit organization and conducting more than three refugee litigations per year”. Further, “Lee & Ko has won three administrative cases consecutively by actively justifying the purpose of the refugee status screening referral system in cases that led to litigation due to the failure to refer to the refugee status screening during the immigration process”. 

ㅁOn October 24, 2024, the Asia Today reported on refugee litigations, stating that “obtaining recognition of a refugee status in Korea through a lawsuit is as difficult as a camel going through the eye of a needle because the applicants must prove everything themselves where it is not easy to secure evidence that they were persecuted in the country where they lived, and the judgment is made based on a strict criteria so that it is likely to be unsuccessful if one thing goes wrong”. While the Asia Today mentioned Lee & Ko’s success in refugee litigations, Lee & Ko’s attorney Seok Pyo Hong stated that “most refugee litigations are also likely to fail due to a slight deviation despite consistent evidence and statements just as it is difficult to be acquitted in criminal cases”. He further added that “there are a lot of limitations in proving the evidence, since most applicants have not secured objective evidence due to urgent departure from the home country”. 

On April 15, 2024, E-Daily featured an interview with Lee & Ko’s attorney Seok Pyo Hong. The firm has recently received the Specialist award – Pro Bono at the 2024 IFLR Asia Pacific Awards, hosted by IFLR, a global financial and legal magazine, in recognition of its contribution to winning a lawsuit involving a refugee case. Commenting on this achievement, Mr. Hong, overseeing the firm’s overall public interest activities, said, “This signifies that Lee & Ko’s contribution to public interest has been acknowledged as the most impactful among law firms across the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia.” He further noted, “The award carries considerable significance in that it is unprecedented for domestic law firms to be awarded for their pro bono activities.”

On April 3, 2024, E-daily reported on Lee & Ko’s winning of the Specialist award – Pro Bono at the 2024 IFLR Asia Pacific Awards, hosted by IFLR, a global legal magazine specializing in finance. The firm received this specialist award in recognition of its contribution to winning an administrative lawsuit against the Incheon Airport Office of Immigration on behalf of refugees from Mali and Angola, seeking the cancellation of the decision not to refer refugee status for review. This case has become a significant precedent for the Korean government to conduct the refugee screening in accordance with due process. 

On February 28, 2024, Law Times reported that Lee & Ko’s Pro Bono Committee delivered donations to four organizations such as “Heavenly Dream School”, an alternative school for North Korean defectors, “Together Goodwill Employment Support Center for North Korean Defectors” supporting North Korean defectors to settle in the society, “Open Door Youth Foundation”, a family community for children and youths abandoned due to abuse and “Myoungryun Orphanage”, a community living institution for children and youths. The donations delivered by Lee & Ko to these four organizations have been raised through the “Matching Grant Method” in which Lee & Ko Pro Bono Committee has additionally supported the same amount gained as the profits of “Lee & Ko Bazaar Sharing Love” hosted last year. 

On February 28, 2024, Edaily reported the successful completion of “Lee & Ko Friends” project, a program in which Lee & Ko attorneys and North Korean defector university students are matched one-on-one as a “Older Friend” and “Younger Friend”. The Lee & Ko Friends project, jointly run by Lee & Ko and social welfare foundation Together Goodwill’s employment support center for North Korean defectors, is a pro bono activity that helps North Korean defector university students to adapt as a healthy member of our society through daily meetings with Lee & Ko attorneys. Lee & Ko started the program as the first among domestic law firms in 2018 and completed its fourth term this year. As a successful pro bono activity model that grows and develops mutually beyond formal mentoring, the project is also leading to the participation of other law firms.