Simpson Thacher & Bartlett will close its Seoul office by the end of the year, the first major global firm to pull out of South Korea since the country opened up its legal market in 2012. The firm already relocated its Korea practice back to Hong Kong earlier this year.
Youngjin Sohn, a corporate partner and head of Simpson Thacher’s Seoul office, will leave the firm. Sohn, who relocated from New York to open the office six years ago, is the only lawyer remaining in the Seoul office after the departures of corporate associates John Hahn earlier this year and Iksoo Kim in 2017. Kim is now a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig’s Seoul office. Sohn said he has no immediate plans.
