South Korean law firm Barun Law has appointed John JungKyum Kim, a US attorney with more than 25 years of insurance experience, as a partner and senior foreign attorney in its insurance and financial services practice, effective 1 May 2026.
“As Kim has served as in-house counsel at large multinational companies and worked at leading global law firms, he is able to connect law with business to keenly understand the products/services and the commercial objectives of his clients in order to develop creative solutions in difficult cases,” senior managing partner Dong Hoon Lee told Asia Business Law Journal.
Kim joins the firm after three years at Dentons Lee, the Korean arm of the international law firm, where he was a senior attorney and co-head of the insurance and reinsurance practice. Prior to that, Kim held senior foreign attorney roles at Shin & Kim, Lee & Ko and Kim & Chang, and served as an in-house counsel for industry leaders, including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and American International Group.
Kim’s past clients include ByteDance, Uber Technologies, Telus Corporation and multiple brands owned by LVMH. Most notably, Kim advised and supported the South Korean branch of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty against KB Insurance relating to the mass global recall of the Hyundai KONA electric vehicles for fires allegedly caused by the lithium-ion battery cells manufactured by LG Chem.
Lee said demand for strategic regulatory advice to ensure compliance with laws and industry-specific expertise had risen steadily in recent years, particularly in the insurance and financial services sectors.
“There is a growing number of cross-border transactions that require simultaneous consideration for deal structuring and to ensure alignment with the local regulatory framework,” he said.
Kim’s arrival increases Barun Law’s total number of senior foreign attorneys to 11.
