South Korea is the only member of the OECD and one of the last few Asian countries that have not liberalized their legal services market. Not only are foreign law firms not allowed to set up offices in Korea, but lawyers with foreign licenses are not permitted to practice and their status is not officially recognized. However, with the prospective ratification of the KORUS FTA, Korea's legal services market might have an opportunity to finally open its doors to international legal professionals and catch up with the corporate sector. As the demand for a larger number of legal advisers with expertise in international finance grows, American law firms, as well as law firms from the UK and Europe, have been anticipating the liberalization of the Korean legal market, particularly since the signing of the free trade agreement between the US and South Korea on June 30, 2007.

David Cho will speak about the practical impacts of this development on his practice and on the types of transactions that he works on.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

About the Presenter

David K. Cho is a lawyer in the Hong Kong offices of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP. His practice focuses on corporate transactions, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate financings, including U.S. SEC-registered public offerings and Rule 144A/Regulation S equity/debt and equity-linked offerings. He holds a J.D. from Chicago–Kent College of Law and a BA from the University of California Los Angeles.