June 20, 2022
Tell us about your professional background and why you’ve chosen in-house roles for most of your career thus far, as opposed to private practice. I’m currently a senior legal counsel at Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS). KOGAS is one of the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers in the world, with imports topping US$20 billion every year, making it also one of the largest private companies in the world. I joined KOGAS in 2017. When I joined the team, there were only a few U.S qualified lawyers to deal with more than 20 projects in the world. So, it has been very adventurous to build up the team until now. I started my career in private practice at Kim & Chang in South Korea, before moving to the contract department of SK Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd from 2011 to 2016, also spending some time at its Canadian subsidiary, Sunlake Co. Ltd, as a general counsel. I made this move to in-house as, while I did a lot of corporate work, including M&A, while at Kim & Chang, I always wanted to contribute my legal skills and knowledge for South Korea. As a country, South Korea is 94% dependent on imports in natural resources; we just don’t have energy, gas and oil here. So, I decided to focus my career on the energy sector. South Korea is also a little different from other places. Energy companies in Korea, including private companies and public companies like state owned enterprises (SOEs), don’t often give legal work to Korean law firms due to lack of experience. They usually instruct international law firms and...