【Episode 31 – Love Call】
"Seheon, I got an email from Skadden asking if I'd come in for an interview for the summer internship."
"I got one too."
"Where, where did you get one?"
"Skadden, Clifford, Latham, Baker & McKenzie, Morgan & Lewis, and… ah, Kirkland. Kirkland said they'd just give me the summer internship. Told me to consider it."
"Really? Wow—jackpot."
Honestly, I was a bit dazed.
Of course, except for Kirkland, they were all emails inviting me to interviews, but landing even an interview at a top-tier law firm was no easy feat.
It was something only possible by attending countless wine-and-cheese events throughout the year to make yourself known, and distinguishing yourself through grades and other extracurricular activities.
Yet, before winter had even arrived—let alone summer—nearly twenty top-tier law firms had reached out asking me to come in for interviews.
Even though we pretended to be calm on the outside, we couldn't help but feel a little giddy.
"Want to just all intern at the same office?"
"What are you talking about, Michael. Are we going somewhere to play?"
"I'm joking, joking. Sein, you always take whatever I say so seriously. Relax, girl~."
"I got contacted by the Korean office too."
"Really, hyung? How?"
"I guess there was a short article in the Korean Legal Times. Titled something like 'The Active Role of Korean Law School Students.'"
"Wow."
"My name and our law firm must have been in it."
"So?"
"The senior directly above me called and asked what the hell I was doing running around in America when he'd sent me there to rest. Said if I was going to work, I should come back to Korea. Haha."
I had met a few Korean attorneys while working as an LSAT instructor. So I knew just how intense the work they did was.
Dongwook hyung's law firm was a decent place. The work was grueling, but the people didn't seem bad.
"But hyung."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you want to work in America?"
"Me? Ah… depending on how you look at it, this started from something really trivial…"
Hyung kindly answered a question that he could have just brushed off.
"When I was in my fourth year, I took on an international arbitration case and went to Singapore. But since I wasn't good at English, I felt like such an idiot, and I lost confidence when arguing. The client was beside himself with anxiety, and since I was the one with the best English at our firm, the partner attorney kept looking only at me, sweat pouring from the top of my head. I attended with a foreign lawyer too, but that was funny as well—he kept asking for an interpreter whenever we did anything."
"Ah."
"Right? During cross-examination, you have to keep up constant pressure, but I'd ask one question and wait for the interpreter, then another and wait again. So I tried to do it myself. Then even though I seemed to understand, they'd go, 'Pardon? (I'm sorry. Could you please say that again?)' Then I'd get unnecessarily nervous and lose steam. That's when I felt it—'Ah, I can't do this properly like this.'"
"So you lost?"
"I lost. We were lucky to eventually reach a settlement and wrap things up okay in the end, but losing that arbitration scratched my pride quite a bit. Haha. I had really prepared hard for it. I think that's when it started—the desire to try it out here."
Dongwook hyung's dream was to become an 'international lawyer.'
In fact, there is no qualification as an 'international lawyer.' (In fact, the Korean Attorney-at-Law Act even prohibits the title 'international lawyer.')
Laws differ by country, and attorney qualifications are only recognized in their respective countries. So if you graduate from law school in New York and become a lawyer, you become a New York State attorney, not an 'international lawyer.'
Nevertheless, the reason Dongwook hyung had come to New York to become an 'international lawyer' was that the commercial transactions of multinational corporations were conducted through New York, an international financial hub, and when disputes arose, New York law firms were mainly engaged.
Europe has London, Asia has Hong Kong and Singapore, and North America has New York.
That is why the world's largest law firms are divided into British and American firms, and their headquarters are located in London and New York.
To be precise, Dongwook hyung wanted to become an attorney specializing in international commercial arbitration.
"So honestly, I want to go to Latham & Watkins the most."
"Why?"
"It's the law firm that Korean conglomerates mainly use. There's one Korean partner there. They use various firms depending on the case, but Latham & Watkins is still the main one."
"So you're looking at Korean conglomerates as your clients?"
"Exactly. After all, I'm Korean, and if I want to use my Korean law knowledge and experience as strengths, it seems wisest to join a firm that has a lot of interaction with Korean conglomerates."
Come to think of it, I think we'd had a similar conversation ten years ago as well.
The memory is faint. Still, it wasn't boring at all. It was fun. Listening to a passionate person talk is always stimulating.
"But I don't know."
"Why?"
"Latham & Watkins has been cut in half."
In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis hit and Wall Street crashed.
This spread into a global financial crisis, and the aftershocks were so severe that even top-tier law firms worldwide began downsizing, with firm rankings fluctuating every quarter.
In fact, from 2008 to 2010, most New York law firms didn't hire even summer interns, let alone new associates.
It wasn't just new associates that were the problem. There were law firms where entire teams were cut overnight.
So graduates from that period had to look elsewhere, not at law firms, and even that situation wasn't good.
In 2011—that is, starting last year—the situation slowly began to improve, and it wasn't until the fall of 2012 that the economy recovered to pre-crisis levels.
Before the subprime mortgage crisis, Latham & Watkins had been the 'number one' law firm in terms of size and revenue.
Starting associate salaries were also the highest at $200,000.
The problem was that it was the firm most deeply entrenched in subprime mortgages.
Latham & Watkins, which had been the number one firm in 2007, had fallen outside the top 30 by 2012. While other firms were getting ready to run again, Latham & Watkins could still be said to be in 'damage recovery.'
"Hyung, it's going to be okay. Latham will survive."
"Huh?"
"Really. Latham & Watkins will become number one again."
It's the truth. In 2022, Latham & Watkins fully recovered and returned to the top law firm position.
"How do you know that?"
"Please, just trust me this once. Latham has vision."
Perhaps because I'd spoken so forcefully, hyung looked at me with strange eyes. Still, I spoke even more strongly. I couldn't explain the reason, but I had to give him faith.
"It's true. It started as a firm in LA, after all. So it really did take a severe hit from the subprime mortgage crisis, but it will definitely climb back up. Actually, I was interested in it too."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Dongwook hyung nodded.
Rather than believing what I was saying, he seemed to gain conviction from someone supporting his vision.
The answer to one's worries is always within oneself.
Sometimes, simply cheering someone on is the best thing.
I simply wanted hyung to move forward as he wished.
"What about you? Where do you want to go most? Seeing how you said you 'were' interested in Latham, it seems like there's a different firm you want to go to now. Where? Kirkland?"
"No."
"Then where?"
"Davis, Miller, Barnhill, and Garland."
Honestly, up until a month ago, I had been thinking similarly to hyung.
I had dreamed of joining New York's biggest law firm, receiving the highest salary and a signing bonus, and entering like a star associate.
That changed when I took on the
Perhaps Professor Alastair Mitchell had been right.
Actually taking on a case and proceeding with it was different.
The trembling I felt on the subway returning after finishing a trial date was not simply because I had won a big case.
I was just.
I had punished someone who tried to torment an innocent person using the complex legal system.
It was the moment my vague goal of entering a good law firm and becoming a successful lawyer changed.
"Davis, Miller, Barnhill & Garland? Where is that? I feel like I've heard of it… where is it?"
One Sunday afternoon, I had dozed off in the school library.
When I opened my eyes, it was a moment when both time and space felt hazy.
Then, several questions suddenly came to mind.
'Why did I regress?'
'Why did God send me back to 2012 of all times?'
'So I could live well and eat well?'
'Just me? Why? Because I donated my liver to my father and lived a good life?'
'Really?'
They were questions without answers, but one thing was clear.
To not waste this miraculous opportunity, I had to do what I had truly wanted.
"The law firm where President Obama worked."
That day, I returned home and drafted an email to Davis, Miller, Barnhill & Garland.
The Psychopaths' Contract, Creative Advocacy (1)
As the end of 2012 approached, the topics students talked about most were,
"So, who's going to be elected?"
"Of course it'll be Obama."
conversations about the U.S. presidential election on November 6, and
"O-o-o, o-o-o—"
"Oppan Gangnam Style—Sexy Lady—."
talk about Psy, the 'Stylish Korean Singer' who had appeared like a comet in 2012.