Korea's first corporate lawyer dies at 84

Hwang Ju-myung speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in his office in central Seoul in this Jan. 23, 2018 photo. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Lee Hae-rin

Korea's first corporate lawyer, Hwang Ju-myung, who was a founder and chairman of HMP Law and a former judge, has died. He was 84.

According to those in legal circles and the bereaved family, Wednesday, Hwang passed away at CHA Bundang Medical Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province around 1:30 p.m, Tuesday.

Born in South Hamgyong Province, North Korea, Hwang started his judicial career in 1961 after graduating from Kyunggi High School and Seoul National University Law School. He served as a judge at the Busan District Court, the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul High Court and as a research judge at the Supreme Court.

Hwang was one of the judges to lead the resignation movement under the authoritarian rule of former President Park Chung-hee in 1971. A total of 153 judges tendered their resignation in protest against the government's investigation targeting judges who found those accused as public safety offenders innocent.

Hwang told local media during an interview in 1977 that he “felt bad about ruling in court under the Yushin (or the authoritarian rule under former President Park) regime,” and resigned from his then-post at the Supreme Court that year.

Next year, Hwang became the country's first corporate lawyer joining the Daewoo Group as a senior attorney upon a proposal by former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong, who also graduated from Kyunggi High School.

In 1981, he joined Kim Chang Lee, one of the country's first law firms founded in 1958.

In 1993, he founded HMP Law and represented multinational corporate clients in Korea on complex international litigation and arbitration issues, including the Coca-Cola trademark infringement litigation and IBM commercial litigation against a Korean local company.