Sue Hyun Lim is an attorney at Kim & Chang, who specializes in international arbitration and cross-border litigation matters.
During her 17+ years of career as an arbitration practitioner, she has represented international and domestic clients in diverse industries, including manufacturing, energy, sales and distribution, banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, construction, online gaming, information technology, etc. She draws her expertise from a wealth of experience in managing international disputes and advocating on behalf of clients in different forums. Over the years, she has worked as arbitration counsel, dispute advisor, arbitrator, and has overseen the international case management work at KCAB INTERNATIONAL, the international division of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB).
Prior to joining Kim & Chang, Ms. Lim served as the first Secretary General of KCAB INTERNATIONAL, where she was in charge of the arbitral institution’s international arbitration case management process and activities promoting Seoul as an international arbitration hub. Before that, Ms. Lim led a career in private practice, working in one of the major law firms in Korea as well as the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
Ms. Lim has advised and represented clients in international disputes, leading roles in over 45 international arbitration matters seated in locations throughout Asia, Europe, and the US, under rules of various arbitral institutions (including the ICC, SIAC, JCAA, and KCAB) in disputes involving a range of subject areas such as investment arbitration, post-M&A disputes, shareholders disputes, international construction, distributorship/technical licensing disputes, and intellectual property.
As a Korean licensed attorney, Ms. Lim has significant experience in appearing and arguing before Korean courts, often representing international clients in matters that involve Korean law. She also regularly provides advice on Korean court procedures such as enforcement of arbitral awards and foreign judgments in Korea, assisting with service of process and evidence taking, and application for injunction or attachment on assets in Korea. Ms. Lim’s advice has helped numerous foreign litigants successfully navigate through the otherwise unfamiliar litigation system in Korea.
Another important category of her practice involves litigation assistance for Korean companies in foreign courts. In a market where not many Korean-licensed lawyers offer direct, and fully bilingual, services with full appreciation of and familiarity with differences in legal systems, Ms. Lim stands out when it comes to assisting clients in prosecuting or defending litigation outside of Korea, helping clients with identifying the right legal counsel, developing case strategies, preparing evidence, managing document collection and overseeing production compliance, and advising on settlement options.
In recognition of her contribution to the promotion of the Korean arbitration industry, Ms. Lim received the Commendation from the Minister of Justice in 2020. She was also awarded the Outstanding Attorney Award by the Korean Bar Association in 2018.
Featured in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration Future Leaders 2019 and on WWL Korea 2019, Ms. Lim has actively and continuously spearheaded efforts to promote international arbitration of Korea. She has written and co-written a number of published pieces, and is a contributing author to Arbitration Law in Korea: Practice and Procedure (Juris Publishing, 2012), the 2016 edition of Arbitration, Practice and Law (Parkyoungsa, 2016), and most recently the Global Practice Guide for Litigation in South Korea (Chambers and Partners, 2017).
Ms. Lim graduated from Korea University (LL.B.) and Seoul National University (Completion of Masters Course, no degree), and she received an LL.M. at the New York University School of Law (2011). She attended the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea upon passing the Korean state bar examination in 1999.
Ms. Lim is a native Korean speaker and is fluent in English. Having lived in South America during her formative years, she is also conversationally fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. She has been a member of the Korean Bar Association and the Seoul Bar Association since 2002, and was admitted to the New York State bar in 2012.