Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, has recruited Soo-Youn Kim as a partner to establish and lead its new Europe South Korea desk.  Based in Milan, she will coordinate service delivery to Korean speaking clients across Europe and Central Asia, and help build Dentons’ client portfolio among leading Korean companies, financial institutions and investors.

“We’ve recently seen a sharp increase in Korean investors buying real estate in continental Europe. There is also strong interest in other key sectors such as automotive, industrial products, consumer goods, life sciences and energy,” said Soo-Youn Kim.  “I look forward to working with my colleagues across Europe to ensure we meet the growing needs of the Firm’s Korean clients.”

A partner in the Corporate and M&A group, Soo-Youn Kim will focus on assisting Korean clients on mergers, acquisitions, inward investments, real estate transactions and other corporate and commercial matters in Italy and more widely in Europe.  She will also represent clients in dispute resolution, including international arbitration.

Ms. Kim brings significant international experience to her new role. Before joining Dentons, she was a member of the Korean desk at Italian law firm Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners, and prior to that, she worked at Pinsent Masons in Dubai and the UK, and served as in-house counsel at LG Electronics in the UK.  She speaks Korean, English and Italian, and dual-qualified in England and Italy.

“Dentons has a solid track record of advising leading Korean clients, due to the quality work done by Korean lawyers such as Raphael Won-Pil Suh in Munich and by our local teams across Europe and Central Asia,” said Tomasz Dąbrowski, CEO of Dentons Europe. “Dentons recently announced plans to combine with South Korean law firm Lee International.  Now with the addition of Soo-Youn to our Europe team, we are uniquely positioned to serve the needs of Korean investors to Europe, and European clients looking to invest in South Korea.”

Federico Sutti, Italy Managing Partner added: “Korean investors already have a significant presence in both the industrial and financial sector in Italy. Therefore, our aim is to position ourselves as the go-to firm for Korean investors in the Italian market”.