Tony Dongwook Kang, partner in charge of cross-border arbitration and litigation at Korea’s Bae, Kim & Lee, was recently named by ALB as one of Asia’s Top 15 Litigators. In this interview, he talks about his standout work, adapting to the impact of COVID-19, and how he goes the extra mile for clients.

Tokyo-headquartered firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune (AMT) has hired David MacArthur as a senior foreign counsel in the international arbitration practice and will be operating out of the firm’s Tokyo and Singapore offices from Bae Kim & Lee (BKL) where he was a partner in Seoul.

Like in other countries in Asia, Korean law firms found themselves affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, but they moved swiftly to mitigate the impact, and ensure business continued as smoothly as possible. In this roundtable, leaders of three of the largest Korean firms talk about the year so far, and the lessons they will take from the experience.

Bae, Kim & Lee, Korea’s third-largest law firm, has hired capital markets specialist Jeong-Hoon Lee as a partner in Seoul from rival Shin & Kim.

Singapore law firm Oon & Bazul has launched a Korea practice after hiring arbitration specialist Julia Yu as a partner from Bae, Kim & Lee, where she was a special counsel. Yu will lead the new practice.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Korean firm Kim & Chang have advised Kakao, operator of Korea's leading messaging app KakaoTalk, on its $1 billion global depository receipts offering.

Korean firm Bae, Kim & Lee, which had previously advised the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 FIFA World Cup organising committees, was chosen to advise the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) as well. John Kang speaks to the firm’s intellectual property team about its “rare opportunity.”

South Korea’s largest firm Kim & Chang continued its dominant run at the ALB Korea Law Awards this year, winning 10 categories, including Deal Firm of the Year, Private Equity Law Firm of the Year, and the coveted Korea Law Firm of the Year.

Clifford Chance has represented Unilever on its $2.71 billion purchase of Carver Korea, a maker of facial masks and skincare products, from its founder, Goldman Sachs, and Bain Capital, which turned to Ropes & Gray for advice.