Dentons Lee is receiving a timely boost with the addition of senior foreign attorney Bernard Ham to lead the life sciences and healthcare team.
“The thing about being in this space and at this time in Korea is that life sciences are being considered an important industry that is attracting both money and talent, and Korean life sciences companies are demanding competent professional services overseas,” said Ham.
Ham held roles at global law firms in legal and business functions within the healthcare industry. He began his career in 1998 as legal counsel at the US Department of Health and Human Services. Ham also joined Alston & Bird and Baker McKenzie healthcare and pharmaceuticals practice teams where he gained experience advising manufacturers and healthcare providers on US regulatory matters.
“You see a lot of Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies investing overseas, particularly in the US and looking to collaborate with global players for research and development (R&D), manufacturing and commercialisation,” he added.
Previously, Ham was a senior foreign attorney in the bio-healthcare practice team at Jipyong Law Firm. At Jipyong, Ham recently represented LabGenomics in its acquisition of a clinical laboratory in the US and advised a Korean private equity in a sizeable investment in a US-based AI company. Ham specialises in transactions spanning the entire product life cycle, including licensing and collaboration transactions.
“Our goal at Dentons Lee is to continue to expand our working relationship with the industry from startup biopharma companies (the biotech startup scene is vibrant in Korea, as there is a lot of cutting-edge science that is being researched and developed) to Korean and multinational pharmaceutical and medical device and diagnostics companies,” said Ham.
