Kim & Chang law firm news

DLA Piper has promoted seven new partners in Asia – two in China, three in Hong Kong and one each in Singapore and Tokyo. The promotions will take effect from 1 May 2011. The promotions in Asia are part of a round that sees 53 new partners joining its ranks.

Two of Korea’s largest law firms, Bae Kim & Lee and Kim & Chang, have played key roles in Hana Bank’s acquisition of its smaller rival Korea Exchange Bank.

Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T), Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (MHM), Nishimura & Asahi (N&A) and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune (AM&T) have all indicated expansions and secondments into Asia as Japanese businesses shift from domestic markets and go regional.

Norton Rose dispute resolution partner Guy Spooner has been appointed to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) board of directors, effective 1 October 2010.

Korea’s Shin & Kim, India’s Khaitan & Co and two PRC law firms are the five best performing firms in this year’s ALB 50, the guide to the largest law firms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Korean law firms Lee & Ko and Shin & Kim have both been awarded advisory roles on the landmark privatisation of Woori Finance Holdings (WFH), the country’s largest bank, fending off eight other law firms including Kim & Chang, Bae Kim & Lee and Yulchon to win the mandate.

With less than two months to go before the Macallan ALB Hong Kong Law Awards 2010, the race for the best trophy haul of the night is intensifying, and five firms are finalists in more than ten categories apiece.

A rising trend of consolidation amongst Asian companies have led to a paradigmatic shift in cross-border M&A deal flows as well as increasing the demand for intra-Asian legal advice served.

India’s AZB & Partners, Singapore’s WongPartnership and Korea’s Kim & Chang have benefited from a resurgence in Asian (ex Japan and Australasia) M&A in the first half of this year by claiming the top three spots on legal advisory leader boards, according to data released by mergermarket.

Korean law firms Shin & Kim and Kim & Chang as well as international players Cleary Gottlieb and Simpson Thacher have acted on the largest ever public offering by a Korean company: the US$4.4bn IPO of Samsung Life Insurance.

Korean heavyweights Kim & Chang and Bae Kim & Lee have helped LG Household & Health Care acquire cosmetics brand The Face Shop Korea for US$363m.

ALB reports from Seoul on a legal services market that has recovered

Korean firm Hwang Mok Park’s merger with boutique litigation firm Hanseung has helped it to acquire an office in Shanghai.

Japan’s Nishimura & Asahi is opening an office in Beijing and has formed an alliance with Soga, Uryu & Itoga (SUI) to target the Chinese market.

Kim & Chang has boosted its competition practice by hiring a former chief at the country’s competition watchdog, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KTFC).

From rising sun to morning calm: Islamic finance in North Asia

Shin & Kim has hired Benjamin Hughes as partner and co-chair of its new international dispute resolution practice group.

Korean firm Yulchon has strengthened its antitrust practice by hiring a former official from the country’s chief antitrust watchdog, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

Demand for lawyers specialising in international arbitration and antitrust matters in Korea is likely to increase as the legal market opens up to foreign firms and international arbitration gains more ground in the country.

Korean firm Kim & Chang has made two major appointments in just over one month, hiring Yulchon partner Dr Youngjin Jung and former patent judge Hoe Kee Lee.