Sejong law firm launches task force to advise on electronic shareholder meetings

Law firm Sejong announced Monday that it is ramping up integrated advisory services for listed companies through its Electronic Shareholders' Meeting Task Force, ahead of the full rollout of the electronic shareholders' meeting regime next year.

Under amendments to the Commercial Act passed last year, listed companies with total assets of 2 trillion won ($1.49 billion) or more will be required to hold both in-person and electronic shareholders' meetings starting in January 2027. Companies preparing for electronic meetings must address a wide range of legal and operational challenges in advance, including selecting and contracting with a management institution, establishing internal operating standards, issuing meeting notices, verifying shareholder identity and handling proxy attendance, setting rules for questions and statements from electronically attending shareholders, preparing for communication failures, and ensuring personal data protection.

Sejong had already established its Corporate Governance Strategy Center and Corporate Governance Research Institute to advise and handle disputes for numerous listed companies on matters including shareholders' meetings, board operations and management control. From the moment the revised Commercial Act introducing electronic shareholders' meetings was promulgated, the firm activated its Electronic Shareholders' Meeting Task Force and has since published working papers to clarify key operational issues.

Drawing on that accumulated expertise, the task force plans to provide timely legal services covering the entire process — from pre-meeting preparation and proceedings on the day of the meeting to post-meeting dispute resolution. Because the area involves corporate law issues intertwined with information and communications technology, personal data regulation and investor relations practice all at once, the firm intends to offer support through a single point of contact, from advance consultation through day-of operations to post-meeting dispute handling.

The task force will assess each company's articles of incorporation, shareholder composition, existing electronic voting arrangements and potential dispute risks. It will then provide step-by-step support covering: board resolutions and meeting notices required to hold an electronic shareholders' meeting; review of entrustment contracts with management institutions; preparation of internal operating standards and proceedings scenarios; establishment of rules for questions, statements and voting rights exercise; communication failure and emergency response manuals; pre-meeting mock rehearsals; day-of operations and minutes preparation; and post-meeting dispute response.

The task force is led by Managing Attorney Lee Dong-geon (29th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), a veteran in corporate governance and shareholder disputes with top-tier expertise and extensive experience in the field. He is joined by attorneys Lee Suk-mi (34th class), Oh Sae-ron (40th class), Choi Myeong (4th bar exam), Baek Seung-woo (8th bar exam) and Ahn Jeong-ho (38th class). Also participating is Ahn Hyo-seop, head of the Corporate Governance Research Institute, a practitioner who has handled investor relations and shareholder response work at leading Korean companies including Samsung and Hyundai Group.

To mark the task force's launch, Sejong will host a hybrid online and offline seminar on Sept. 29 under the theme "A to Z for Successful Electronic Shareholders' Meeting Preparation." The seminar is designed to follow the actual workflow of practitioners preparing for electronic shareholders' meetings.

Conducted in partnership with IR Kudos, an electronic shareholders' meeting management institution, the seminar will walk participants through what companies must decide and document at each stage: selecting a management institution and concluding an entrustment contract; establishing internal operating standards and issuing meeting notices and announcements; day-of operations; and post-meeting recordkeeping and disclosure. It will also take a close look at what screens are actually displayed in the management institution's system at each point in the process.

Situations requiring company judgment — including attendance and identity verification, proxy electronic attendance, receipt and screening of questions and statements, voting rights exercise and tallying, vote allocation in cumulative voting, and communication failure response — will be demonstrated in detail using live operational screens.

"An electronic shareholders' meeting goes beyond simply streaming a conventional shareholders' meeting online — it is a regime that must substantively protect the rights of electronically attending shareholders while also ensuring the legality of proceedings and resolutions and fairness toward shareholders attending in person," said Lee Dong-geon, managing attorney and head of the Corporate Governance Strategy Center. "Sejong will draw on its accumulated experience in shareholders' meetings and management control disputes, its proactive research, and its collaboration with management institutions and specialist practitioners to provide comprehensive solutions tailored to each company's circumstances."

Meanwhile, Sejong posted record annual sales last year, with revenue rising 18 percent year on year to 436.3 billion won — the highest in the firm's history. The firm has nearly doubled in size in the five years since Managing Attorney Oh Jong-han took office in 2021. Annual sales were 267.1 billion won in 2021, 298.5 billion won in 2022, 319.5 billion won in 2023 and 369.8 billion won in 2024. Sejong has been strengthening its corporate governance advisory and response capabilities, having launched its Corporate Governance Strategy Center in July last year and its Corporate Governance Research Institute in February.