Big Law Korea Forum

[gochooindontgo]

0L here, waiting for an acceptance letter from a certain law school, and I was wondering, does anybody know how exactly US Big Law offices in korea compare to their US counterparts? Do salaries and bonuses work the same as they do in the US? Are there any incentives for moving to Korea, like free housing, (maybe cars, lol year right ^^), or expat packages for transitioning to a foreign country?

Also, how are the hours like at korean offices compared to the US ones. I know that koreans tend to work longer than americans on average, but can anybody who has experience working in korea shed any light on the situation over there?

I know that it hasn't been long since Big Law Korean offices have opened up and there is barely any information on the subject matter, so any help would be appreciated. Oh yeah, I forgot, what are the language requirements to work at a Big Law Korean office. I am a korean american in the US who spent 4 semesters in college and at least 6 years of my life studying korean. I don't have an accent when speaking the language, and during the times I visited Korea, everyone took me for a native, so I can confidently say that I'm "fluent" in korean, but my writing abilities may be a bit lacking compared to native koreans. Will this hinder me in any way? Also, I have no knowledge of korean legal terms as well as knowing zilch about the way the korean legal system works. I feel that this would disadvantage me compared to koreans who have a korean and US JD, but is this really a big requirement for US big law attorneys looking to work in korea?

[Anonymous User]

Korean offices are pretty small, with only a handful of attorneys (usually less than 5) working there. Of these, some of the offices are kind of for show only, and a lot of the work is still being done out of places like Hong Kong while a few partners build business domestically. That said, there are opportunities for those who are looking to go there, but they are rare (at least for now). Going as a 1st year associate is nearly out of the question; to practice law at a non-Korean firm you need to register as a Foreign Legal Consultant, and that requires at least 3 years of experience before you can apply. You currently don't need to be registered as an FLC to work for a Korean firm, but that may change in the future. From what I have been told salaries are at the NYC scale with a COL adjustment on top. Since people working there were all probably transferred from another office in the firm, I'd expect an expat package would be thrown in as well to get them established. I interned at a Korean firm and their hours are VERY long, and I would assume that big law attorneys keep long hours as well. How much the other aspects of Korean corporate culture play into things may depend on who you are working with and where they are from.

Fluency in Korean is important but there are those who are non-native, otherwise not perfectly fluent, or who speak almost no Korean at all. Granted, since the vast majority of these people are partners their selection criteria is much different than for an associate. Some partners I've spoken with have told me that perfect bilingual proficiency is nearly impossible to find in anyone so that's not exactly what they expect, but they do look for people who are native in one language and at least competent in the other. Of course there are exceptions to that, but the better your language skills are, the more attractive you will be. Knowledge of the Korean legal system is helpful in understanding your client's position and potential issues, but you wouldn't be practicing Korean law so you don't have to be an expert by any means.

Keep in mind that since you are a 0L and the market is so new, by the time you are looking to go there things may have changed drastically and all of this could no longer be relevant.

[lymenheimer]

Reading is very important: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=170603

[A. Nony Mouse]

Moved to the correct forum (there's no anon in this forum, but I wasn't going to out the helpful answer provided above when this was in the Legal Employment forum).

[heythatslife]

The anon above has given a pretty good picture. I'll just add that the FLC requirement does not really appear to be that big a barrier to entry in practice, given that 1) there are JDs in Seoul offices of US firms who have been practicing for less than 3 full years (i.e. class of 2013/2014); 2) one V10 at my school's OCI was specifically looking for someone who was willing to do one year in NY and then go to Seoul in their second year.