Bae, Kim & Lee has been steadily growing for three decades, but 2018 was a special year for the Korean firm. For the first time in its 33-year history, its gross revenue broke 300 billion Korean won (about $273 million), boosted by headline-grabbing deals and work for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. In a year when all the major Korean firms did well financially, BKL stood out.
In 2018, 635-lawyer BKL reported $279 million in revenue, a 14.1% increase, placing it at No. 163 in the Global 200, up seven places from the prior year. BKL isn’t the only Korean firm in the Second Hundred; 662-lawyer Lee & Ko made its debut in the Global 200 this year at No. 166, with $263 million in gross revenue. And 988-lawyer Kim & Chang, the largest firm in Korea, was in the Global 100 for the fourth straight year, ranking 53rd with $901 million in revenue. Three other major Korean firms that are not in the Global 200—Shin & Kim; Yulchon; and Yoon & Yang—had revenues between $128.5 million and $187.6 million.