UK And US Legal Giants Race To Enter South Korea
By: Ainsley Brown
Large UK and US law firms are making aggressive moves to capture a share of the increasingly lucrative South Korean legal market. As South Korean companies have expanded globally they have increasing found the need for international legal services, be it in settling disputes – Apple vs Samsung – or concluding complex infrastructure deals.
Foreign firms have long been used on the international aspects of legal matters however until quite recently they were forbidden from entering the South Korean market. The change came with the signing of two free trade agreements; the EU in July 2011 and the US in March 2012.
The law will result in a gradual opening of the market as foreign firms can only set up a joint venture with a South Korean firm after two years of being in the market and they can only practice South Korean law upon five years of entry.
One would think that since the EU agreement was signed in July of last year that would have given the UK firms an edge for being the first to market. But you would be wrong. The US firms have the edge and for the foreseeable future.
Please do not get me wrong I am not making a comment on the quality of the UK law firms – as the UK has produced some of the finest global law firms – or the sincerity of their commitment to entering the South Korean market.
No! But the numbers simple do not lie, according to the FT “only three of the 17 firms to have expressed interest in opening a Korean office are from the UK.”
The US firms just have a clear edge over their UK counterparts for two clear reasons; the first is due to the language of the trade agreements and the second is demographics.
As part of the gradual opening of the market South Korea as stipulated that the head of the foreign firm’s Korean office should have spent three years working in the foreign firm’s home country – language of the trade agreement. In other words the head of the UK or US firm’s Korean office, a person whom it would logically be assume would be bi-lingual, has to have worked in the UK or US for at least three years.
Given the fact that the US has more Korean speaking bi-lingual lawyers, in large part due to its Korean-American community, US firms have a larger pool of quality lawyers that fit the requirements of the law to choose from than their UK counterparts – demographics.
Edge clearly to the US legal giants.
Seems like the Western markets are saturated and Europe is in a mess, so all businesses, including law, are looking East.
The entire outlook seems to be quiet promising to firms based in the US than in UK. Although it seems like a good time to venture into the foreign market the wait seems to be too long before the foreign counterparts can practise the law in their country.