Any lawyers in Korea or korean study abroad programs? Forum

[cahwc12]

I'm applying to schools this cycle and am very interested in joining in on the wave of US firms currently opening offices in Korea and would like to know if anyone here currently works there, has any plans to work there, knows anyone working there, or if you are attending a school that has any kind of exchange or internship program that offers positions or time abroad in Korea.

Thanks for any info!

[yong1ekim]

I am also interested if anyone can provide some more info!

[LS-boundNYC]

Fordham Law has a summer program in Korea that includes externships, some of which I believe are at top multi-national corporations. There are details on the Fordham website.

[bree]

One caveat regarding practicing in Korea at a U.S. law firm: you need to practice in your "home jurisdiction" (U.S., Europe, etc) for 3 years before you can work as a "foreign legal consultant" in Korea (i.e., foreign lawyer in Korea).

[bhan87]

This is mostly anecdotal information from what I've heard talking to attorneys, but Korea is going to be a tough market to crack for firms. Despite the legal restrictions being loosened, I've heard Korean clients are quite ruthless in getting low low fees. It seems a lot of firms are hesitant to go all-in for this reason.

On a related point, most firms run their Korea-focused practices out of their Hong Kong offices. I suspect, unless the physical presence in Korea becomes a critical factor for Korean clients choosing legal representation, many may choose to forgo opening an actual office for awhile.

Lastly, just to plug CLS, we had multiple 1Ls last summer intern at Kim & Chang (Korea's top firm). They were also paid positions (albeit on the cheap side compared to other Asian firms that hired 1L interns).