Justin Chang

As a boy, Justin Chang remembers his attorney father advising Korean-based companies.Long before Hyundai and Samsung were household names here, Korean executives would visit Chang's home near Los Angeles.His parents were passengers on the first Korean Air flight from Los Angeles to Seoul, just after the airline was privatized.

Chang has grown up -- he's now an associate in the San Francisco office of Shearman & Sterling -- and so has the Korean economy, now the 11th largest in the world.

This week, Chang is off to Korea, where he'll spend two months inside the legal department of LG Electronics, one of the world's largest makers of mobile handsets.

He's hoping to develop relationships there that can generate future business.And he and his firm aren't alone.Though China grabs the headlines, Korea and its economy are increasingly in the sights of U.S. firms hoping to expand global practices.

A half century after the Korean War, and eight years after the Asian economic meltdown, Korea is home to major global companies and a fast-growing IT industry, spurring U.S. and U.K. law firms to aggressively court Korea-based clients.A handful of firms are lobbying the government there to open the country up to foreign law offices, a step some say could happen as early as next year.

"This was not my favorite place to go as a child because then it was not so developed," says Chang, 32.
...
Chang, for example, spent the summer after his first year at Boalt Hall School of Law working at a Korean firm.
...
For Korean-Americans like Chang, this might just be the time to visit.

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This week, Shearman & Sterling associate Justin Chang is off to Korea, where he hopes to develop relationships that can generate future business.And he and his firm aren't alone.

Justin Chang, associate at Shearman & Sterling
...
As a boy, Justin Chang remembers his attorney father advising Korean-based companies.Long before Hyundai and Samsung were household names here, Korean executives would visit Chang's home near Los Angeles.His parents were passengers on the first Korean Air flight from Los Angeles to Seoul, just after the airline was privatized.

Chang has grown up -- he's now an associate in the San Francisco office of Shearman & Sterling -- and so has the Korean economy, now the 11th largest in the world.

This week, Chang is off to Korea, where he'll spend two months inside the legal department of LG Electronics, one of the world's largest makers of mobile handsets.

He's hoping to develop relationships there that can generate future business.And he and his firm aren't alone.Though China grabs the headlines, Korea and its economy are increasingly in the sights of U.S. firms hoping to expand global practices.

A half century after the Korean War, and eight years after the Asian economic meltdown, Korea is home to major global companies and a fast-growing IT industry, spurring U.S. and U.K. law firms to aggressively court Korea-based clients.A handful of firms are lobbying the government there to open the country up to foreign law offices, a step some say could happen as early as next year.

"This was not my favorite place to go as a child because then it was not so developed," says Chang, 32.
...
Chang, for example, spent the summer after his first year at Boalt Hall School of Law working at a Korean firm.
...
For Korean-Americans like Chang, this might just be the time to visit.

This week, Shearman & Sterling associate Justin Chang is off to Korea, where he hopes to develop relationships that can generate future business.And he and his firm aren't alone.Though China grabs the headlines, Korea and its economy -- the 11th largest worldwide -- are increasingly in the sights of U.S. firms hoping to expand global practices.

Expansion-Minded Law Firms Look to Korea (Law.com)As a boy, Justin Chang remembers his attorney father advising Korean-based companies.