Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is set to open an office in the South Korean capital, Seoul, in the first half of 2012, writes The Asian Lawyer. The announcement potentially puts the New York firm among the first wave of foreign firms to enter the country’s legal market, which had been closed to them prior to the passage of a free trade agreement.
The new office will be headed by partner Yong Guk Lee and will initially be staffed with counsel Jay Hoon Choi and up to five associates drawn from the firm’s 17-lawyer Korea team in Hong Kong. Lee says the firm plans to move “the bulk” of its Korea practice to Seoul with the next two to four years. “If there’s demand for more lawyers, we’ll go at a higher pace,” he adds.
Cleary’s recent work for Korean clients includes advising Kookmin Bank on its $1.7bn (£1.1bn) stake in its parent, KB Financial Group, in August, and The Export-Import Bank of Korea on a $1bn (£640m) notes issue the following month.
