The Seoul office will be led by Joon Yong Kim, a lawyer licensed in the US and who was admitted as foreign legal consultant by the Ministry of Justice in July. Kim will be joined by corporate partner Edward Ghiyun Kim, who is relocating to Korea from the Tokyo office.

As head, Joon Yong Kim will focus on merger and acquisition and other transactional work, including litigation and arbitration. Other areas of practice will include infrastructure, intellectual property and anti-trust and trade disputes. 

Other Squire Sanders lawyers are applying to practice in Korea and will relocate in the coming year, said the firm. 

The company has been advising a range of Korean firms across various industries from key offices in Tokyo, Beijing, Los Angeles and Washington DC for almost 30 years. The launch of the Seoul branch is part of a greater strategy to expand in Asia-Pacific over the next year.

Counting operations in Australia, Singapore and China, Squire Sanders now has 124 lawyers across the Asia-Pacific region.