Peter & Kim has established its second Australian branch with the launch of an office in Perth, Western Australia, adding to the Sydney office, which opened since the firm’s inception in 2020.
Kevin Kap-You Kim, the senior founding partner at Peter & Kim, told Asia Business Law Journal that setting up a physical office in Perth seemed inevitable for the firm at this stage.
“All major industries and projects, including gas, iron ore and rare earth elements, are in Perth, and related businesses from Korea, Japan and China are involved in arbitration there. Since our clients are based in Perth, we determined that it is necessary to have an office and lawyers there to provide ongoing support for our clients,” said Kim.
With the Perth branch, the firm said the two Australian offices would operate in an integrated fashion. The Australian team of Peter & Kim, led by James Morrison, Alexis Schoeb and Cameron Sim, will be based between Sydney and Perth in the near term.
On the firm’s expansion within Australia, Kim said: “Given the tensions between the US and China, I consider Australia to be a very important country. It is also a good location for lawyers to work and live in, which led me to consider expanding there.”
Kim also predicted that the Perth office could become bigger than the Sydney office in the long term.
“All major industries are based in Perth, it is rich in resources and it shares the same time zone as major arbitration seats like Singapore and Hong Kong, making it convenient for business operations. We see Perth as a city with great potential and plan to invest in it as much as we do in Sydney,” he said.
Peter & Kim is a specialist arbitration firm established by Kim and Wolfgang Peter, based in Geneva. In addition to the Perth and Sydney offices, Peter & Kim has overseas branches, including Geneva, Seoul, Singapore and Zurich.
