K&L Gates’ Foreign Legal Consultant (FLC) Office in Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, was established in November 2012 as the Firm’s seventh office in Asia. The Firm was one of the first foreign law firms to obtain a license to establish a physical presence in Korea upon opening of that country’s legal market.

Korea’s export-fueled growth of the past decades has led to the expansion of foreign direct investments by Korean companies, and our lawyers in Seoul are well-positioned to advise Korea-based businesses ready access to the resources of a global law firm. Our Seoul office, in close cooperation with the Firm’s lawyers in its offices throughout the world, advises Korean corporations and financial institutions with respect to overseas direct investments and M&A transactions, project developments, financing transactions, financial services regulation, and IP counseling and dispute resolution, as well as international arbitration cases.

Owing to the three-phased liberalization timetable of the Korean legal market, the Firm’s Seoul office (like all other foreign law firms’ Seoul offices) currently cannot practice Korean law. Until the full-fledged market opening is implemented in 2017, the Firm’s Seoul office will assist the Korean domestic legal needs of the Firm’s Korea-bound clients pursuant to informal referral-and-supervision arrangements with an array of Korean law firms.