It’s long been clear that international law firms were eager to enter the Korean market. But exactly how many has turned out to be more of a surprise. Some 17 U.S. and U.K. firms have either applied to open an office in Korea or publicly stated their intention to do so since the free trade agreements liberalizing the Korean legal market came into effect at the beginning of 2012.
Can the Korean market support those kinds of numbers? That’s not so clear. According to the World Bank, the country of 49 million people had 2010 gross domestic product of roughly $1 trillion, less than one-fifth that of Japan or China. Moreover, unlike Hong Kong or Singapore, Seoul is not a global financial hub.
