From left: VILAF partners Nguyen Thanh Tung and Nguyen Anh Hao; Yoon & Yang adviser Hyun Woo Dang; Yoon & Yang partner Zunu Lee; VILAF managing partner of the Ho Chi Minh City office Ngo Thanh Tung; Yoon & Yang managing partner Kwon Hoe Kim; VILAF chair Duyen Ha Vo; Yoon & Yang managing partner Young Ho Kang; VILAF managing partner of the Hanoi office Ngoc Anh Bui; Yoon & Yang managing partner Junsang Lee; VILAF partner Pham Si Hai Quynh; Yoon & Yang senior foreign Attorney Sungdo Choi; and VILAF partner Trinh Luong Ngoc
VILAF and South Korea’s Yoon & Yang have entered a collaboration to launch a Vietnam-Korea practice unit in the former’s Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi offices to enhance cross-border capabilities.
Duyen Ha Vo, chair and senior partner at VILAF in Ho Chi Minh City, told Asia Business Law Journal that Vietnam and Korea were two of the most active corridors for inbound-outbound investment in Asia, and client needs in this space had become more sophisticated and time-sensitive.
“We entered into the collaboration to respond to that market reality: to provide clients with advice across both jurisdictions, especially on cross-border transactions, regulatory planning and dispute strategy.”
Zunu Lee partner and head of cross-border practice at Yoon & Yang in Seoul, will manage the practice unit. He said Yoon & Yang approached VILAF and understood that the management of the two firms shared similar values, visions and strategies in this collaboration.
He said the core of this arrangement was the establishment of a dedicated Vietnam-Korea practice unit (or Korea-Vietnam practice unit, as it could be called in South Korea with VILAF to provide Korean clients operating in Vietnam or having business relations in Vietnam with Vietnamese law services.
VILAF and Yoon & Yang both have previously collaborated on a case-by-case basis on M&A matters in Vietnam, including South Korean credit card company Shinhan Card’s acquisition of Prudential Vietnam Finance Company, a UK-based financial services group, and have worked together on joint pitches for other legal matters.
The Vietnam-Korea practice unit aimed to provide Korean clients in both countries with access to a broad range of services, involving cross-border investments, mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions, as well as complex dispute cases in Vietnam.
In terms of clientele, VILAF expected the alliance to deepen access to Korean corporates, private equity and venture capital sponsors, lenders and strategic investors, while also enabling Vietnamese clients to engage in Korea, said Vo.
Meanwhile, Yoon & Yang expected the collaboration to give South Korean clients more confidence in the handling of legal matters in Vietnam, said Lee of Yoon & Yang.
Korean clients most frequently sought Vietnamese law advice on market entry for the complex industry and services sectors, M&A and joint ventures, projects and infrastructure development and financing, cross-border lending and capital market transactions, complex dispute matters, employment and operational issues, said Lee.
He said some 10,000 Korean companies with a presence in Vietnam, made Korea the top foreign direct investment (FDI) country in the Southeast Asian nation on an accumulated amount basis, which opened the door to various legal needs for their business in Vietnam.
“We anticipate deploying joint teams on a matter-by-matter basis where transactions require real-time co-ordination or sector expertise from both sides,” said Vo.
As the Yoon & Yang collaboration with VILAF matured, Korean clients would be able to entertain a full range of legal services in Vietnam via the Vietnam-Korea practice unit without having to seek another law firm, said Lee.
