Paul Hastings and Cohen & Gresser have received approval from the South Korean Ministry of Justice to open an office in the country. The two firms become the fourth and fifth foreign law firms respectively to receive official approval. The other three firms to have received such approvals are Clifford Chance, Ropes & Gray and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton.

Paul Hastings partner Jong Han Kim will head the new Seoul office, alongside partner Daniel Kim and a team of associates and counsel. The team’s key focus areas will be M&A, private equity, capital markets, intellectual property and antitrust litigation.

Cohen & Gresser partner S.C. Sohn will head the Seoul office for the firm, with a focus on M&A, private equity, international arbitration, cross border litigation and intellectual property.

The17 foreign law firms which have applied to open offices in Korea are:

Law Firm

Headquarters

Korea office head

Korea focus areas

Clifford Chance

UK

Brian Cassidy, Hyun Kim

Capital markets, M&A, Banking and finance, Project finance, Arbitration

Cohen & Gresser

U.S.

S.C. Sohn

M&A, PE, Capital markets, IP, Dispute resolution

Paul Hastings

U.S.

Jong Han Kim, Daniel Kim

PE, M&A, Project finance, Capital markets, Litigation

Ropes & Gray

U.S.

William Yongkyun Kim

Corporate, IP, Business litigation, Arbitration

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton

U.S.

Seth Byoung Soo Kim

Corporate, Finance, Antitrust, IP, Entertainment

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

U.S.

Yong Guk Lee, Jay Hoon Choi

Corporate, Finance, Regulatory, Litigation, Arbitration

Covington & Burling

U.S.

William Park, Daniel Spiegel

Corporate, Banking and finance, Antitrust, IP, Litigation

DLA Piper

U.S./UK

N/A

N/A

H.C. Park & Associates

U.S.

N/A

N/A

Herbert Smith (Rumoured)

UK

 

 

K&L Gates

U.S.

N/A

N/A

Linklaters (Rumoured)

UK

 

 

McDermott Will & Emery

U.S.

In-Young Lee

M&A, Finance, Antitrust, Restructuring, International trade, IP, Litigation

McKenna Long & Aldridge

U.S.

Andrew Park

N/A

O’Melveny & Myers

U.S.

Sungyong Kang, Jinwon Park

Corporate M&A, Antitrust, International trade, Litigation

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

U.S.

Youngjin Sohn

M&A, Capital markets, PE, Antitrust, IP, Litigation

Squire Sanders

U.S.

Joon Yong Kim

N/A

*If your information is not listed, please email Kanishk.verghese@thomsonreuters.com

Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.

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