South Korean law firms D&A (formerly DR & AJU) and LIN signed a memorandum of understanding for a law firm merger on 29 April 2026 and agreed to establish a merger promotion committee.
“This MOU marks the first step towards a merger between D&A, which is strong in litigation and overseas business, and LIN, which is recognised for its strengths in consulting — particularly in M&A and related advisory services,” said Kyu Chul Lee, senior managing partner at D&A at the signing ceremony held at the law firm’s headquarters in Seoul.
Jin Seok Lim, the founding managing partner of LIN, said this merger would be conducted on equal terms as a 50:50 combination.
“Such issues as the governance structure and voting rights at the equity partners’ meeting have not yet been finally fixed, but at the stage of signing the MOU, the parties discussed that level of broad framework,” said Lim.
The merged firm, whose official name has yet to be decided, is targeting registration in October 2026. In a joint press release, they said the merged firm would comprise 393 Korean-licensed lawyers, with a combined annual revenue totalling KRW143.7 billion (USD97.2 million).
“In our view, the number of our lawyers is quite substantial; on a simple combined basis, it currently exceeds that of Yoon & Yang,” added Lee.
Regarding the new branding, the management said all options remained under consideration, including the possibility of dropping the D&A and LIN names in favour of an entirely new identity.
“We will achieve revenue of KRW500 million per lawyer, and it is my firm intention that we ‘must’ surpass the KRW200 billion mark next year. Looking ahead, our goal is to become the number one firm after 10 years,” said Lee.
