KL Partners > The Legal 500 Rankings

KL Partners > Firm Profile

The firm: KL Partners was founded in 2015 by a group of four leading specialists in the fields of international dispute resolution and corporate/M&A. Led by partners who have consistently been recognised by foremost legal publications as leaders in their respective fields, KL Partners consistently finds itself at the forefront of Korea’s most significant disputes and high-profile M&A transactions.

KL Partners does not seek to be the largest firm in Korea. Rather, its goal is to be the firm of choice for clients facing difficult legal issues, challenging disputes and critical business dealings. KL Partners’ core values are providing dedicated client service based on a keen understanding of the client’s needs and goals, ensuring the highest quality of service led by hands-on partners from start to finish, and offering value-added service by lead teams comprised of specialists in the relevant fields.

Main Areas of practice: 

International Dispute Resolution: KL Partners is the first firm of its kind in Korea to specialize specifically in cross-border litigation and international arbitration.

Commercial Arbitration: Based on its partners’ experience and background as leading corporate/M&A attorneys in Korea, KL Partners is recognized as a market leader with unparalleled hands-on experience and expertise in post-M&A and corporate related disputes, including shareholder disputes, post-merger disputes, joint venture, earn-outs and commodity sales, etc.

As a result, KL Partners has been chosen by sophisticated M&A participants, who are able to recognize the difference between “general practitioners” and “industry specialists”, to handle the most complicated and high-profile post-M&A arbitration cases in Korea.

Investor-State Disputes (ISD): The firm’s partners are widely known and recognised as pioneers and front-runners in the emerging area of investor-state disputes (ISD) in Korea, having represented the investor in the first-ever ICSID proceeding brought against the Republic of Korea. The firm has also recently been selected to act in two additional ISD cases, further solidifying its position as the market leader in the area of investor-state disputes.

The firm’s international dispute resolution practice group is led by leading attorneys in the field who have acted as counsel in some of the most high-profile cases, including numerous cases before the Korean courts, ICSID, ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, KCAB, LCIA and ad-hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL rules.

Corporate/M&A: KL Partners advises on a broad range of corporate matters, including M&A, cross-border investments and private equity transactions. KL Partners’ Corporate/M&A team is led by partners who have consistently been recognized by foremost legal publications as ‘Leading Lawyers’ in the field of corporate/M&A in Korea.

Since its opening, KL Partners has been retained to handle some of the most high-profile domestic and cross-border M&A transactions and has consistently been ranked in the Korea M&A league tables as one of the top law firms in terms of deal size and volume.

Beomsu Kim (managing partner): Mr Kim, managing partner and chair of the international dispute resolution practice group, is widely recognised as a market leader in the area of cross-border dispute resolution, with particular expertise in ISDs and commercial arbitration. Prior to establishing KL Partners, Mr Kim led the international dispute resolution practice group at Shin & Kim and served as a judge at the district courts of Korea for nine years and as an arbitrator in numerous arbitration proceedings.

Seong Hoon (Sean) Yi (partner): Mr Yi is the chair of the corporate/M&A practice group. Mr Yi has worked on some of the most high-profile M&A transactions in Korea and has been regularly recognised as a leading attorney in the field of corporate/M&A in Korea. Mr Yi is also a professor at Yonsei University law school, which is one of the top law schools in Korea.

John M Kim (senior foreign counsel): Mr Kim focuses his practice on international arbitration, as the vice-chair of the international dispute resolution practice group, as well as corporate/M&A matters. He is consistently recognised as a leading attorney in his field by various leading international legal publications.

Eun Nyung (Ian) Lee (partner): Mr Lee focuses his practice on international arbitration as well as corporate/M&A and banking/finance matters. He has experience in cross-border and domestic M&A, private equity, acquisition financing and real estate transactions and financing. He is also highly specialized in commercial arbitration and is one of the leading partners in the firm’s international dispute resolution practice group.

Ki Seong Park (partner): Mr Park focuses on representing clients in disputes related to finance, securities, antitrust, commercial transactions and hostile M&A transactions based on his extensive litigation experience in Korean courts.

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