Also, Bae, Kim & Lee and Lee & Ko ranked as top tier law firms in Korea in 3 of the 4 areas of expertise, including Banking and Project Financing. Jisung Horizon, newly joining the top 7 law firms in Korea, ranked second tier in the Banking and Project Financing. Kim Chang & Lee, a mid-sized law firm, rose to a second tier law firm in Insolvency and Restructuring.

The International Financial Law Review (IFLR), a leading global finance and law magazine, published the results of a survey of Korean law firms in its 2009 edition of IFLR 1000. In the survey, Kim & Chang and Shin & Kim were ranked as top tier law firms in all of the four areas of expertise. 

The survey was conducted in four practice areas: (i) Capital Markets, (ii) Banking and Project Finance, (iii) M&A and (iv) Insolvency and Restructuring. IFLR, based in London, is a monthly magazine published by Euromoney and is highly regarded as an authority on legal practice by lawyers practicing in finance-related legal work and international finance circles. Notably, IFLR 1000 ranks leading law firms in each country in each of the above categories and such rankings are used as benchmarks for clients all over the world in their selection of law firms.

According to the above IFLR survey, Lee & Ko and Bae, Kim & Lee were ranked as top tier law firms for three of the four categories other than Capital Markets, namely, Banking and Project Finance, M&A and Insolvency and Restructuring. Yulchon was ranked as a top tier law firm for only M&A. Especially noteworthy was the fact that the synergy of law firms emerging from recent mergers were positively reflected in the above IFLR law firm survey. Jisung Horizon emerged from a merger between Jisung and Horizon Law Firm in May of 2008, which made the surviving law firm ranked among the top 7 law firms in Korea. Thanks to the merger, Jisung Horizon was ranked among second tier law firms for Banking and Finance, and among third tier law firms for each of the 3 other categories. Kim Chang & Lee, which is a middle ranking Korean law firm with only about 40 lawyers, was favorably compared with large law firms in Korea in all of the 4 categories.

Kim Chang & Lee, which emerged from a merger between Pyungsan and Kim Chang & Lee in July of 2008, was ranked as a second tier law firm for Insolvency and Restructuring, and as a third tier law firm for each of the 3 other categories. For such balanced excellence in all of the categories, Kim Chang & Lee is regarded as a well established advisor to corporations. Hwang Mok Park was recognized for its professionalism by being ranked as the sole second tier law firm for M&A, and as a third tier law firm for Banking and Project Finance and Insolvency and Restructuring.

The following are the Korean law firms ranked by IFLR as top, second and third tier law firms in each of the areas of expertise:

Capital Markets

1. Kim & Chang and Shin & Kim
2. Lee & Ko, Yulchon, and Bae, Kim & Lee,
3. Barun Law Firm, Kim Chang Lee, Evergreen, Jisung Horizon, KCL, Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu

Banking and Project Finance

1. Lee & Ko, Kim & Chang, Shin & Kim, and Bae, Kim & Lee,
2. Jisung Horizon, Yulchon, and Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu
3. Kim Chang & Lee, Hwang Mok Park, and KCL

M&A

1. Lee & Ko, Kim & Chang, Shin & Kim, Yulchon, and Bae, Kim & Lee
2. Hwang Mok Park
3. Kim Chang & Lee, Jisung Horizon, and Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu,,

Insolvency and Restructuring

1. Kim & Chang, Shin & Kim, and Bae, Kim & Lee,
2. Lee & Ko, Kim Chang & Lee, Yulchon, and Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu
3. KCL, and Jisung Horizon

Source: Sang-Won Yoon from The Lawtimes (2008. 10. 17.)