Kwon & Co

Law Offices Kwon & Co. (hereinafter “Kwon & Co”) was established by attorney Tae Il Kwon who had been practicing maritime law for almost 20 years and was the joint partner of Law Offices Kwon & Moon from 2006 to 2016 after the dissolvement of Kwon & Moon.  With his main focus on maintaining the level of professionalism his previous law firm had provided, Tae Il Kwon has organized a team with one other partner and three associates who are playing a pivotal role at Kwon & Co. by assisting him with various maritime cases.

His partner and associates are not only well-experienced with exceptional work-ethics but also fluent in English from their foreign academic backgrounds: his partner, Suyeon Jung, who started her career at Kwon & Moon and later joined Kwon & Co., has been working as a maritime lawyer for 10 years and is handling most of the major cases with Tae Il Kwon and received her LL.M degree in International Shipping Law at Queen Mary University of London in 2022, and became qualified in Illinois Bar of the United States in May 2024.

Other associates of Kwon & Co include: Ein Han, who joined Kwon & Co in 2023 after working at the Ministry of Justice of Korea and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency as an in-house counsel and Minju Choi who recently joined Kwon & Co after graduating law school.

Referring to General Cargo Claims, Kwon & Co. covers every sort of the issues, including but not limited to cargo misdelivery, fire and wet damages to the cargoes, shortage claim, improper temperature of reefer containers, improper packaging or lashing of flat rack containers, acting for domestic shipping companies such as Hyundai Merchant Marine, SK Shipping, EUKOR Car Carriers, Pan Ocean and Sinokor Merchant Marine, and P&I clubs such as NorthStandard, Steamship Mutual P&I, Britannia P&I, Swedish Club, Gard P&I, London P&I, Japan P&I, West and Skuld.

Concerning wet maritime issues of Collision & Grounding of the Vessel, members of Kwon & Co. have shown that they are more than capable of collision cases, not only handling damage claims arising from ship collision but also criminal and maritime tribunal cases occurring simultaneously, involving P&I clubs such as Gard P&I, Swedish Club and Steamship Mutual, and H&M underwriters like Hyundai Marine & Fire and DB Insurance.

For Kwon & Co., 2024 was highlighted by three major cases which include winning two cases in Korean Supreme Court: (i) Kwon & Co. has acted for EUKOR Car Carriers in relation to the fire occurred on board a time-chartered car carrier M.V. “Platinum Ray” and completely won the case in the appellate court against the cargo interests, (ii) Kwon & Co has won a Korean Supreme Court case where it set the standard of Korean Supreme Court regarding the scope of the time bar for demurrage claims, and (iii) another Korean Supreme Court case regarding delivery of cargoes without in exchange of the B/L, in which the claim amount was over USD 17 million.

Kwon & Co. also has wide experience in Crew Death & Injury issues, providing legal advices for crew injuries under Korean Seafarers Act, seeking amicable resolution of the case but ultimately protecting the interest of the clients which include Hyundai Glovis, HMM, Pan Ocean, Sinokor Merchant Marine, SK Shipping, Shinsung Shipping, and P&I clubs such as NorthStandard, Steamship Mutual, West, Britannia and Korea Shipping Association.

Kwon & Co. is also actively engaged in rehabilitation/bankruptcy cases of shipping companies such as Hanjin Shipping, Pan Ocean, Korea Line and Daebo International Shipping to protect the interest of the creditors who are mainly foreign ship owners. The cases deal with mostly time charter or voyage charter disputes where Kwon & Co. had received very good outcomes since it requires extensive knowledge and experience in both Korean rehabilitation procedure as well as English law, which usually is the governing law of the charterparty.

Kwon & Co. is also an adviser law firm to SK Shipping since 2020, which is one of the largest shipping companies in Korea.