Korea leader Kim & Chang set to launch base in Hong Kong

Kim & Chang is in the process of setting up a formal Hong Kong office after receiving a licence to become a foreign registered law firm in the city. The Korean outfit, which previously operated in Hong Kong through a liaison office, will soon become fully established in IFC 1 in Central in the hopes of better servicing its international clientbase. Leading the branch will be US attorney Alex Yang, who was previously a partner at Ernst & Young in Hong Kong and an in house tax specialist at Morgan Stanley. He will be joined by one or two associates as the office grows. “We’re setting up the entity now. We’ve just got the licence from the law society,” Yang said. “Our plan is to use this office more as a market intelligence gathering and client servicing base. It will help us service the clients, not just at the local level but at the regional level as well, as most global multinational corporations with operations in Korea have regional headquarters in Hong Kong, and to a certain extent Singapore.” He added: “We’re not trying to have a huge presence. We are still a Korean law firm servicing Korean clients, although a lot are going out of Korea these days, to China and various countries in the region, so there is a need to service them. There are also more inbound clients.” Kim & Chang is currently the biggest law firm in Korea, with over 500 attorneys and a focus on the financial services sector. The firm, whilst still only providing Korean legal counsel, also has a number of US and Australian attorneys to help liaise with and manage its international clientbase. It is among a handful of local firms in Asia which has been able to compete with international law firms on a local level amid the liberalization of the region’s legal markets; a trend which has sparked the likes of King & Wood in China to merge with Australia’s legacy firm Mallesons. Yang said the firm has no plans to do a merger with an international law firm at this point, but would continue to service its global clients through its affiliations and relationships with outfits in other jurisdictions.

November 21, 2012 at 06:14 AM

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