[THE INVESTOR] Kim & Chang, the nation’s largest law firm, posted a record 1 trillion won (US$924 million) in revenue last year, according to news reports on Feb. 13.

It is the first time that a Korean law firm has reported more than 1 trillion won revenue since the market opened in the 1970s.

Kim & Chang, which dominates almost 50 percent of the market, reportedly recorded 1.01 trillion won in revenue last year, up 6.5 percent from 952.1 billion won from the previous year. 

The firm has continued strong growth over the past decade, except in 2009 right after the global financial crisis. Its revenue has more than doubled from 447.9 billion won in 2007. During the same period, the number of lawyers also surged to 654 people from 279.

In the meantime, its market share slightly declined to 49.9 percent last year among the nation’s top six law firms with more than 100 billion won in revenue, the second time the figure fell below the 50 percent.

Following Kim & Chang were Bae, Kim and Lee (Taepyeongyang) with 276.1 billion won; Lee & Ko (Gwangjang) with 263.7 billion won; Yulchon with 191.1 billion won; Shin & Kim (Sejong) with 167.6 billion won and Yoon & Yang (Hwawoo) with 120.5 billion won.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)