After a more than 25-year stint with the largest Korean law firm Kim & Chang and co-founder of the firm’s international arbitration and cross-border litigation group, partner Park Eun Young is setting up as an independent arbitrator in his own practice, Park Arbitration Chambers.
Park also joined a London-based arbitration management support service, Arbitra, which was launched a year ago. As an arbitrator in various disputes administered by numerous international arbitral institutions, Park’s practice covers M&A, finance and insurance, infrastructure, energy, joint ventures, IP and overseas investments.
“During the past two decades, Korea became one of the major players in global arbitration,” Park told Asia Business Law Journal. “Arbitration laws and practice in Korea are now in line with internationally recognised standards.”
As international arbitration continues to develop with firms trying to sustain the delicate balance between common law and civil law, Park observed that arbitration in Asia and the need for Asian arbitrators will grow substantially.
Park, who is also a vice-chair of the International Bar Association Arbitration Committee and founding co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Arbitration Group, saw that the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis had increased the need for the resolution of disputes from the subsequent globalisation of the Korean economy. The crisis opened the doors of opportunity for companies and lawyers to step into a wide range of commercial and investment disputes.
“Traditionally, arbitration was developed and applied in the old continent, the Anglo-American and European regions, but as the Asian economy rises, the need for dispute resolution in Asia grew,” Park added. “More and more users in Asia became parties in the arbitration process and counsel in Asia have been engaged in arbitration.”
