Mr. Sang Hyun Baek is currently a partner at Shin & Kim and is widely recognized for his considerable expertise in disputes over management rights, company disputes related to corporate governance and financial disputes.

Mr. Baek graduated second in his class from the College of Commerce and Economics (Business Administration, Economics) of Yonsei University and earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the Seoul National University School of Law. After completing a course for doctor of juridical science (S.J.D.) from the Seoul National University School of Law (majoring in commercial law), Mr. Baek has established himself as an acknowledged expert in disputes over management rights, corporate governance and financial disputes at Shin & Kim based on his deep understanding of matters related to corporate laws, including corporate governance, and financial practices, including those related to the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.

In his practice, Mr. Baek has played key roles in the handling of disputes over managerial rights surrounding large listed companies, responses to challenges from minority shareholders in governance restructuring processes, disputes related to corporate financing, such as the issuance of exchangeable bonds and the disposition of treasury shares, disputes over the forfeiture of contract deposits in large-scale M&A transactions, etc. He has also successfully represented Korea companies in civil laws against global platform companies, achieving favorable outcomes for his clients with his sophisticated legal analysis.

Notably, in an unprecedented case in which an alleged breach of the director’s fiduciary duty to shareholders became a point at issue after a recent amendment to the Commercial Act, Mr. Baek represented a company and its directors to respond to a challenge from the company’s minority shareholders, securing a complete winning of the lawsuit for his client. As Mr. Baek obtained the court’s judgment that clearly stipulates the limit on the director’s fiduciary duty to shareholders in such case as above, it is considered as a landmark case that provides an important benchmark for the interpretation of the amended Commercial Act.

Mr. Baek is praised for his ability to provide his clients with opinions essentially required for their decision-making and solutions from the perspective of a practicing lawyer in the field based on his extensive experience. He has successfully handled numerous large and high-profile cases while his expertise has been widely recognized through his selection as Top Lawyer by the Law Times Korea Consumer Report (2025), his contribution as an author of the shareholder derivative litigation section of LawnB Onju (2025) (Annotated Commentary), his delivery of Thomson Reuters’ M&A Masterclass lectures (2025), and contribution as an author of a paper for Seoul National University BFL (No. 135) (2026) etc.

• Represented a large listed company in a dispute over management rights (one of the top 10 companies by market capitalization)
• Represented a seller in a lawsuit for the return of a KRW 250 billion down payment in connection with the failed M&A of domestic Airline A
• Represented a business transferee in a lawsuit concerning the transfer of business in the field of gift certificate business
• Represented a controlling shareholder in a shareholder proxy lawsuit brought by a minority shareholder
• Represented a company and its directors in a dispute related to the issuance of exchangeable bonds with treasury shares as the subject of exchange and won the lawsuit
• Represented a leading domestic facilities-based telecommunications business entity in a lawsuit concerning network use fees against a global platform company (Company N)
• Represented a company in a claim for compensation for damages against its management, arising before and after an M&A transaction
• Represented clients in multiple M&A-related lawsuits involving breaches of representations and warranties
• Represented a financial investment company and a bank in a lawsuit for damages brought by a financial investor against the financial investment company and the bank.
• Represented a trust company in multiple lawsuits related to security trusts and management trusts