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Deeply rooted yet full of young branches, HMP Law focuses on nine specialized fields

Administrator | 2017-06-30 | Views 3356

This profile of HMP Law is translated from the Korean language original in the Korea Economic Daily: http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=004&oid=015&aid=0003785121 


Deeply rooted yet full of young branches, HMP Law focuses on nine specialized fields

HMP Law has a new motto, ‘expertise and dynamism.’ Founded in 1993, HMP Law has grown with a focus on corporate affairs, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and medical and pharmaceuticals, but now provides comprehensive legal services in all fields, including project financing, real estate, taxation, litigation, intellectual property, and so on. After establishing a strategic alliance with Bird & Bird, a U.K.-based global law firm, in 2014, HMP Law significantly strengthened its technology sector, which has now grown into a tech & comms team that handles technology, media, communications, etc. 
‘Young HMP Law’ armed with professionalism 

The dynamism of HMP Law can be found in the young membership of its Operations Committee. Led by Park Kyun-je (17th graduating class of the Judicial Research & Training Institute), attorney and Chief Operating Partner, the nine young partners in the Committee play important decision-making roles. To strengthen its professionalism, HMP Law is developing the specialized capabilities of its core lawyers in major industries. HMP Law selected nine main business areas, such as pharmaceuticals & healthcare, project financing & social overhead capital, fair trade, financial litigation, international affairs, technology & telecommunications, compliance, the automotive industry, and taxation, in an attempt to gain an early edge in the market.        

Attorney Lim Hye-yeon is now in charge of the pharmaceuticals & healthcare team which had been led by Mok Kun-su, one of the founding partners of HMP Law and its managing partner. The pharmaceuticals & healthcare team provides consulting services to a number of multinational pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including MSD Korea Ltd., a Korean subsidiary of global firm Merck Sharp & Dohme. Lim participates in relevant lectures and workshops, as an attendee, guest speaker or panelist, hosted by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association and the Korea Global Industry Association. The medical malpractice team is led by partner Im Chi-young, who has more than 15 years of experience.

The project financing and social overhead capital team, led by partner Lee Jae-sung, provides consulting services to lender, construction investors, operating investors and other related parties in connection with social overhead capital, construction, energy, real estate development, etc. Successes of this team include the urban development project in Daejang-dong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, private investment project for the Suwon outer ring (northern) road, private investment project for the creation of an environment and energy town in Daejeon, and so on.

The fair trade sector is one of the areas attracting the greatest interest since the inauguration of the administration of President Moon Jae-in. Partner Kim Si-joo is in charge of the team, together with over thirty professionals, including partner Suh Suk-hee, an alternate member of the Fair Trade Commission. Major companies in the confectionery and bakery industry, including SPC Group, are longtime clients of HMP Law. Also, HMP Law offers free legal consultations on fair trade at the Korea Fair Competition Federation to its member companies every two months.

Partner Choi Byung-moon leads the financial litigation team, which has recently been expanded and reorganized to provide consulting and litigation services on all financial sectors, including banks, securities investment trusts, etc. Since he joined HMP Law in 1998, Choi has been widely recognized as an expert in financial disputes. The team won the following cases: lawsuit for guaranteed dividend of Samsung Life Insurance (also known as the “Baeksu” insurance case); a lawsuit filed by Hana Bank for for a restitution claim of unjust enrichment against debtors of loans in Japanese yen; lawsuit filed by Munich Re Germany, one of the world’s largest re-insurers.

Upgraded Competitive Edge in Nine Core Areas
As a law firm with a strong focus on international matters since its foundation, HMP Law is well known for providing legal consultation to foreign companies in Korea about the best investment structure, together with other related services, such as preparation of agreements, obtaining of necessary permits and licenses, etc. With more than a half of its clients being multinational corporations, HMP Law has consistently adopted industry-accepted best practices. Managing partner Park Sang-il and partner Lee Hyung-soo are the main members of the international team.

The technology & communications (tech & comms) team comprises the ‘young blood’ of HMP Law. Led by partner Ahn Chan-sik and other young attorneys, the team handles and advises about legal matters in relation to Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), Fintech, cryptocurrency, brock chain, drones, electric vehicles, self-driving cars, storage batteries, and innovative technology. 

The corporate compliance team led by partner Ah Young-eun became busier after the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (so-called “Kim Young Ran Act”) went into effect last September. As compliance monitoring and anti-corruption practices are becoming increasingly important, companies are making preparations for full legal compliance.

Consisting of professionals with a good command of English, Chinese, German and Italian, the automotive team has secured many famous foreign automobile parts manufacturers as its clients. The team led by partner Chung Jin-hyuk, who has advised many multinational corporations, provides a full range of legal services, such as consultation on importation, sales, dealers, taxation, environmental laws, etc.
 
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