Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy has opened a foreign legal consultant office in Seoul, South Korea.
Partner Young Joon Kim - a Korean native who started his career with Milbank in New York – will head the new office. Kim has been most recently been based in the firm’s office in Hong Kong and was managing partner of its Tokyo office from 1997-2003.
Scott Edelman, Milbank’s chairman, said of the office opening: "We are delighted to establish our newest office in Seoul and to have a permanent, central address from which to serve our many Korean clients as well as international companies doing business in Korea."
Milbank acts for international and Korean corporations, financial institutions and government agencies on inbound and outbound transactions, including project finance, M&A, private equity, and aviation and transportation finance. The firm is experienced in large project financings supported by official export-credit agencies such as the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation.
Kim himself has handled significant cross-border transactions from Korea, including financings in the power, petrochemicals, steel and mining, and semiconductors sectors. He has also demonstrated expertise in aviation finance transactions and transactions in financial services.
Milbank was among the first US law firms to establish an Asia-based practice in the mid-1970s. In the 40 years since, it has gained experience and knowledge of doing business in Korea.