Shin & Kim Holds Seminar on "A to Z for Preparing a Successful Electronic Shareholders' Meeting"

Key Issues and Response Strategies for Each Operational Stage

On the afternoon of September 29, the law firm SHIN & KIM held an online and offline seminar at Gran Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul, under the theme "A to Z for Preparing a Successful Electronic Shareholders' Meeting."

The regular shareholders' meetings in 2027 will be the first to implement both cumulative voting and electronic shareholders' meetings simultaneously. This is expected to serve as a major turning point for listed companies, as they will need to not only establish the necessary systems but also overhaul their overall operating frameworks. In response, SHIN & KIM organized this seminar in collaboration with IR Qudos, the designated management institution for electronic shareholders' meetings, to share the key preparations and practical issues companies need to address ahead of the new regulation.

The seminar opened with welcome remarks from Donggun Lee, Managing Partner leading the Corporate Governance Strategy Center and the Electronic Shareholders' Meeting Task Force at SHIN & KIM (29th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute). In the first session, Sookmi Lee, Deputy Director of the Corporate Governance Strategy Center (34th class), provided an overview of the electronic shareholders' meeting system. Lee explained: "Since the 2027 regular shareholders' meetings will be the first ever to be held electronically, there will inevitably be many instances in which the chairperson must make real-time decisions on matters such as granting opportunities for questions and remarks by electronic participants, imposing limitations, determining the order in which questions are addressed, and deciding whether to proceed in the event of network disruptions. Because each of these decisions could potentially lead to defects in resolutions, it is essential not only to establish detailed operating standards beforehand, but also to consult with both legal and system operation experts throughout the process, from preparation through to the day of the meeting."

Next, Attorney Sookmi Lee and Director Sungyong Park of IR Qudos reviewed practical issues step by step, including ▲ selecting a management institution and signing a consignment agreement ▲ establishing internal operating standards and sending meeting notices and announcements ▲ running the meeting on the day ▲ and post-meeting documentation and disclosures. They also provided detailed demonstrations of actual operating screens. Director Park advised, "Even when a company outsources the electronic shareholders' meeting to a management institution, the company itself must set the standards and procedures for convening and running the meeting. Therefore, it is crucial for both parties to clearly divide roles and responsibilities in advance and work closely together. In particular, cumulative voting requires significantly more time for voting and tallying than ordinary voting, so companies should establish an operational system that considers the convenience of both shareholders and proxies, and conduct sufficient mock operations before the actual meeting."

Donggun Lee, Managing Partner and head of the Corporate Governance Strategy Center, stated, "Electronic shareholders' meetings are not simply an IT system implementation; they represent a structural transformation in how meetings are run and serve as a catalyst for governance innovation across corporate governance as a whole. We are committed to providing comprehensive, one-stop legal services throughout the entire process so that companies can systematically address various issues arising from the adoption and operation of electronic shareholders' meetings and prepare the system in a stable manner."

The SHIN & KIM Electronic Shareholders' Meeting Task Force includes Managing Partner Donggun Lee, Attorney Sookmi Lee (34th class), Attorney Saeron Oh (40th class), Attorney Myung Choi (4th bar exam), and Hyoseop Ahn, Head of the Institute for Corporate Governance.

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