Dentons has announced its third combination globally since last week, this time with a local firm in South Korea.

The global legal giant will combine with Lee International, a Seoul-based firm with about 30 lawyers. Lee International was launched in 1961 as a patent firm and has since expanded to include mergers and acquisitions, finance, real estate, litigation and international arbitration, entertainment, and labour and employment, in the information technology, biotechnology, and electrical and mechanical engineering sectors.

The combination will allow Dentons to advise on Korean law through Lee International, said Park Sung-duck, the representative attorney of Lee International. Park clarified that the combination is not a joint venture, which is the only way a foreign firm can directly practise local law in Korea.

Lee International will be a member of the Dentons group, said Park, adding that the two firms may form an exclusive alliance, though discussions are still ongoing. The combination is expected to be completed in the next few months, following approval by the two firms' partners and regulatory requirements.

Dentons already has a presence in Korea with an office in Seoul, which was opened in 2013 by predecessor firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. The Seoul office has two partners: Andrew Park and Song Jung, both intellectual property specialists. Park and Jung also spend time in Washington, D.C. Lee International's Park said there will be no integration with Dentons' Seoul office.

Since last week, Dentons also has announced combinations with six-lawyer Honduran firm Gustavo Zacapa y Asociados and 113-lawyer New Zealand-based firm Kensington Swan.

At least two other international firms have alliances in Korea. Bird & Bird has a non-exclusive partnership with HMP Law, while Taylor Wessing has an exclusive alliance with DR & AJU; both alliances were formed in 2014. The two global firms said such alliances made more sense for them than opening a Seoul office, as they get access to the Korean market without making a significant commitment on the ground.

There are currently 28 foreign firms in Korea, including Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer and Shearman & Sterling, which entered Asia's fourth-largest economy in February and December, respectively.

But Korea has also seen its first departures since the country opened up its legal market to global firms in 2012. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was the first, which shuttered its Seoul office in November last year and relocated its Korea practice to Hong Kong, while McDermott Will & Emery withdrew last month.

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