McDermott Will & Emery Closes Seoul Office
The U.S. firm is only the second international firm to pull out from South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy.
July 12, 2019 at 08:06 AM
3 minute read
Seoul, South Korea.
McDermott Will & Emery has closed its Seoul office, the firm has confirmed, becoming the second global firm to withdraw from South Korea.
The South Korean Ministry of Justice will cancel the U.S. firm's licence to operate a foreign legal consultant office in Seoul in the coming weeks, according to Korean legal news site Lawtimes.co.kr, which first reported on the closure.
"While we have closed our Seoul office, McDermott Will & Emery will continue delivering superior service to our South Korean, and Asia-based clients, from our more than 20 other global offices," the firm said in a statement.*
McDermott's former Seoul office representative, corporate partner Paul Kim, is now based in New York. McDermott's former Korea practice group head, corporate partner In-Young Lee, left in 2016 after two decades with the firm and joined leading Korean firm Lee & Ko in 2017. Both Lee and Kim relocated from New York to set up the Seoul office in 2012 – among the first wave of international firms to do so.
McDermott's withdrawal from Korea follows that of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which was also part of the 2012 wave. The New York-based firm closed its Seoul office in November of last year and relocated its Korea practice to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, two other U.S. firms have recently entered Korea, which is Asia's fourth-largest economy. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer opened an office in Seoul in February with White & Case's former Seoul office head and litigation partner James Lee, while Shearman & Sterling relocated projects finance partner Anna Chung from Singapore to launch an office last year. Arnold & Porter has since quickly expanded its Seoul office, recruiting two more partners from White & Case's Seoul office.
Following McDermott's exit, there are now 28 foreign firms in Seoul, of which 22 are U.S. firms.
Seoul was McDermott's only representative office in Asia. The Chicago-based firm has had a strategic alliance with Shanghai-based firm MWE China Law Offices since 2007.
*Updated Jul. 12: This story has been updated with a statement from McDermott Will & Emery.
Related Stories:
Simpson Thacher to Become First Global Firm to Close Seoul Office
Seoul and Tokyo: A Tale of Two Legal Markets
UK Firms' Seoul Offices Safe as Britain Signs Trade Deal With Korea
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