VCI Legal

Special Counsel, ADR

David is a special counsel of VCI LEGAL in the firm’s Ho Chi Minh City office and practices in the fields of dispute resolution (arbitration, mediation, and litigation), investment protection, corporate, and M&A. He has been advising and representing various clients across the globe for their international arbitration cases including several Investor-State Dispute Resolution (ISDS) disputes since his joining VCI Legal. His expertise in arbitration and ISDS has contributed to the firm’s robust ADR practices. He previously worked extensively in matters involving competition law, franchising, alternative dispute resolution and general corporate advisory work in South Korea and Australia. He also negotiated and structured a number of Korean domestic and overseas acquisitions and joint ventures.

David has a truly international legal background, encompassing both civil law and common law education and practice, with law degrees from leading Korean and Australian law schools.

Professional Records:

With VCI Legal, David has been advising and representing various dispute and investment cases.  Some of the notable cases are as follows:

Representing a Malaysian investor for its ISDS dispute arising from unfair and discriminatory treatment accorded by the State; Representing a French investor for its ISDS dispute arising from unlawful expropriation of the investment by the State; Advising various investors (the US, Korean, German, French, etc.) for the prospect of their ISDS cases against the State; Representing a multinational cosmetic brand for its tax dispute against local tax authority; Representing an investment fund for its shareholder dispute against a company in which it invested; Representing a Vietnamese real estate developer for its M&A dispute against a Singaporean seller; Representing various foreign entities for their arbitration cases against local partners; Advising a multinational ride-hailing company for its competition issues; and Advising a multinational retail company for its M&A transaction.

Practice Areas

Investment Dispute Settlement Arbitration & Mediation Corporation & Securities Merger & Acquisition  Investment, Commercial Transaction  Antitrust, Venture Capital

 

Before joining VCI LEGAL, David had practiced with Max M Lawyers, an Australian commercial law firm based in Melbourne, Australia. Some of the major cases in which David was engaged are as follows:

Defending clients against investigations and legal proceedings of Australian Federal Fair Work Ombudsman regarding alleged breaches of labor laws regulations; Representing clients in the Australian Federal Court for judicial reviews of administrative decisions of Australian government which had brought adverse impact on clients’ business; Advising and representing clients in relation to trust fund disputes between executors and beneficiaries regarding interpretation of trust terms and administration of trust estate; Advising clients on their intellectual property rights in regard to the registered and non-registered designs of clients’ products; and Advising clients on their options in relation to court-awarded asset freezing orders against clients’ business and possible consequences on their overseas tangible and intangible assets.

Before his practice in Australia, David was a general legal manager of a listed Korean IT & Game company and conducted cross-border M&A, international IP disputes and competition law matters.

Experience & Office hold

VCI LEGAL:  Vietnam (2018 to Present) Special Counsel MAX M LAWYERS:  Australia (2017 to 2018) Solicitor GI LAW:  Australia (2017 to 2018) Legal Advisor GOLFZON CO LTD:  South Korea (2009 to 2014) General Legal Manager HANJIN HEAVY INDUSTRY AND CONSTRUCTIONS CO LTD:  South Korea (2006 to 2009)   Assistant Legal Manager

 

English Korean

Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) with Honors, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea