Former Simpson Thacher Seoul Head Joins Korea's Kim & Chang
Youngjin Sohn is now a partner with the largest Korean law firm, following the closure of the Wall Street firm's Seoul office.
April 26, 2019 at 09:11 AM
3 minute read
Seoul, South Korea.
The former Seoul office head of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has joined Kim & Chang, South Korea's largest law firm.
Youngjin Sohn led the Wall Street firm's office in the South Korean capital until its closure in November. He remained a Simpson Thacher partner until the end of 2018 and joined Kim & Chang as a partner in January. News of his move, however, wasn't made public until this week. Kim & Chang also separately hired two former Simpson Thacher Seoul associates.
Sohn has a broad corporate practice, which includes capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and matters related to competition and compliance. In April last year, he advised the underwriters of a $1 billion securities offer by Hanwha Life Insurance, and also acted for the insurer's $1.6 billion initial public offering in 2010 – the largest listing at the time on the Korea Exchange.
Sohn joined Simpson Thacher in New York in 1998 from Shearman & Sterling and became a partner in 2006 in Hong Kong. He helped the firm open its Seoul office in 2012 – among the first batch of foreign firms to launch in Korea.
Before starting his legal career in 1996, Sohn was a consultant at management consulting firm Bain & Company, and spent time at Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. as international team leader of the strategic planning division.
Sohn said he was nervously excited to join Kim & Chang, which is one of the few Asian firms, and the only one from Korea, ranked in the Global 100 revenue list; the firm reported $870 million in 2017 revenue from 920 lawyers. "It's a new area that I can explore," he said. "The role I can play here is different from what I had been playing at Simpson Thacher – at foreign firms' Korea practice."
Simpson Thacher was the first and so far only global firm to close its Seoul office. Herbert Smith Freehills temporarily closed its Seoul office last month to re-register its office as a branch of an Australian firm, instead of as a U.K. firm, to prepare for Brexit.
The other U.K. firms in Seoul – Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Stephenson Harwood and Allen & Overy – may have to close their Seoul offices in the case of a no-deal Brexit. In recent years, Clifford Chance's Seoul office saw several departures, including its office managing partner Kim Hyun-suk.
Meanwhile, U.S. firms Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer and Shearman recently opened offices in Seoul.
Related Stories:
Simpson Thacher to Become First Global Firm to Close Seoul Office
Global Firms Study an Unpredictable Market in South Korea
Brexit Hits UK Law Firms in S. Korea; Seoul Offices May Be Forced to Close Temporarily
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