Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has added Virginia Tam as a partner in the corporate and transactional practice, along with Sacha Cheong as counsel in the litigation and dispute resolution practice, both in the firm’s Hong Kong office. Additionally, Soheui Choe joins the firm’s Seoul office as counsel in the intellectual property practice.
Arriving at K&L Gates from White & Case LLP, Tam is dually qualified in New York and Hong Kong. With a focus on cross-border corporate transactions involving publicly-traded companies, she advises clients on private equity financing, including pre-IPO investments and private investments in publicly-traded equities; mergers and acquisitions, including management buyouts and reverse takeovers of listed companies; and public offerings in the United States and Hong Kong.
Tam stated: “I am thrilled to be joining a firm which is considered a market leader and look forward to working with some of the world’s top companies, advising on complex transactions which will require innovative solutions. I love the challenges that this presents and working across the firm’s global platform.”
A disputes lawyer joining K&L Gates from Clifford Chance, Cheong focuses on litigation before the Hong Kong courts, arbitration, and mediation. His practice covers a broad range of areas, including complex commercial cases, white collar crime, employment, construction, and infrastructure. He has also been involved in various antitrust and competition investigations, as well as several high-profile environmental and telecommunication disputes.
A bilingual, U.S.-qualified patent lawyer with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, Choe focuses her practice in strategic counseling on technology and IP, in particular, IP procurement and portfolio management, pre-litigation analysis, due diligence, litigation, and technology transactions in the areas of nanotechnology, chemistry, material science, biochemistry, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Choe most recently worked for Samsung Electronics and was previously in private practice in the United States.
David K. Y. Tang, K&L Gates’ Managing Partner, Asia, commented: “We are delighted to have Virginia, Sacha, and Soheui join us as we continue to expand our Hong Kong and Seoul offices in line with an increase in cross-border corporate transactions and litigation cases throughout the Asia Pacific region. These lawyers will be tremendous assets to K&L Gates’ local and multinational clients.”
Tam is the third new partner to join K&L Gates’ Hong Kong office this year, with the firm having welcomed both corporate and securities partner David Johnson and commercial disputes partner Samuel C. S. Ngo in March.
With the opening of a Seoul office earlier this year, K&L Gates was one of the first U.S.-based law firms to avail itself of the benefits of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which, upon becoming effective in March 2012, opened the Korean legal market to U.S. law firms for the first time.
