TOKYO—October 21, 2004 LAWFUEL – Law, attorney, legal news —Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced today that Eugene Chang, formerly of Woo Yun Kang Yeong & Han, a leading South Korean law firm, has joined the firm as a partner based in its Tokyo office.
Mr. Chang has wide-ranging experience in sophisticated corporate and finance transactions. He is a prominent lawyer in Korea’s securitization market, and he recently played a major role in Korea’s first Japanese-yen denominated securitization deals to be offered and sold in the Japanese market.
From Orrick’s Tokyo office, Mr. Chang will focus on several key areas: the development of the firm’s securitization practice in Korea, advising on cross-border M&A transactions involving major Korean companies or Korean assets, and assisting with the growth of the firm’s asset finance practices, particularly the areas of shipping and aircraft finance. South Korea now has the 11t-largest economy in the world, and after Japan, is the largest and most sophisticated securitization market in Asia.
Mr. Chang, who was raised in Korea, is a U.S. citizen who earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1980, and an MBA from MIT in 1983. He earned a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1988 and is member of the State Bar of California.
About Orrick’s Tokyo Office
Orrick opened its Tokyo office in 1997 and quickly built successful Tokyo-based project finance and real estate practices. In more recent years, the firm has established itself as a leader in the Japanese real estate and securitization market, and has been building a broad-ranging Japanese and cross-border corporate practice.
Orrick is growing its Japanese law practice and its presence in Tokyo at a time when it is anticipated that imminent regulatory changes will allow international law firms to broaden the scope of the business that they do in Japan, and to directly hire lawyers who are licensed to practice Japanese law.
“Mr. Chang’s arrival is an important step in Orrick’s expansion in Asia, and will enable us to further expand our existing practices into South Korea,” said Ralph Baxter, chairman and CEO of Orrick.
“Eugene Chang’s addition is a very important milestone for our office and the firm’s Asian practice,” said Howard Goldwasser, partner-in-charge of Orrick’s Tokyo office. “He is a talented and highly respected lawyer — a market leader in Korean securitization, asset-finance and M&A who, no doubt, will serve our clients that are doing business in Korea well.”
About Orrick
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is an international law firm with approximately 700 lawyers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The firm focuses on litigation, complex and novel finance, and innovative corporate transactions. Orrick clients include Fortune 100 companies, major industrial and financial corporations, commercial and investment banks, high-growth companies, governmental entities, start-ups, and individuals. The firm’s 13 offices are located in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange County, Pacific Northwest, Tokyo, London, Milan, Paris, and Rome.
