Shin & Kim has hired Benjamin Hughes as partner and co-chair of its new international dispute resolution practice group. Hughes will launch the new group with chairman Beomsu Kim, a partner at Shin & Kim with experience in international arbitration and cross-border dispute resolution and a director of the Korean Council for International Arbitration.
Hughes joins Shin & Kim from Shearman & Sterling, where he was a senior associate in the international arbitration group. It was an international arbitration matter on which Shin & Kim and Shearman & Sterling were working together as co-counsel that led Hughes to his new employer.
| "[Korea] will increasingly become a place where arbitration disputes are heard.” |
As arbitration has become the preferred method for resolving international commercial disputes, the firm has recognised the need for practitioners with specialised experience in this area. Beomsu Kim and managing partner Doo Sik Kim were quick to invite Hughes to be co-chair given his international arbitration experience, Korean language skills and past employment with Kim & Chang.
Korea is increasingly becoming a centre for arbitration and Shin & Kim are looking to tap into work flowing from international commercial arbitration and cross-border litigation. “There are a lot of Korean companies involved in disputes. Their market power is increasing and they will have more leverage to influence the venue of jurisdiction and the rules under which the arbitration will be conducted. [Korea] will increasingly become a place where arbitration disputes are heard,” said Hughes.
Currently, Shin & Kim are representing a Korean auto-parts manufacturer in a contract dispute with a US company and working on several other cases involving foreign and Korean parties. The firm will continue to target work from both foreign and Korean clients.
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