From Seoul to San Francisco and Back Again

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Now, decades later, as the Country Managing Partner of DLA Piper Korea, the major global law firm, he looks back on an unexpected journey shaped by hard work, big decisions, and the support of mentors.

Born and raised in Korea, Lee came to the U.S. following his father’s move to the Bay Area. “My original plan was to earn a PhD and return to teach at my alma mater,” he recalls. That goal brought him to Michigan State University, where he earned a master’s degree in Communications. But while studying in the U.S., a new realization took hold: to thrive in his adopted country, he needed a professional license. Law, he decided, was the path that made sense.

He enrolled at USF School of Law, drawn by its proximity to his family in Concord and by the school’s openness to international students like him. “USF was very generous to me,” he says. “My English wasn’t great, and legal language was like another foreign language. So I studied harder than I ever had before.”

He credits the law school’s Academic Support Program (ASP), including a kind third-year tutor, and faculty members like Jack Garvey and Delos Putz, who brought the law to life, particularly in constitutional law and contracts, for shaping his early legal thinking. “Coming from a country under dictatorship, reading U.S. Supreme Court decisions was eye-opening. I was mesmerized by the reasoning in those opinions.” After graduation, Lee began his legal career in Los Angeles, serving Korean American clients in civil litigation before joining Hawaii’s largest law firm. There, he gained extensive courtroom experience and later shifted into transactional work. The next chapter of his career brought him to major international firms, where he represented Korean conglomerates in cross-border matters.

You have to want something, be willing to dedicate yourself to it, and have the discipline to follow through. That’s what I would tell any law student starting out.”

Eventually, destiny — and a personal decision — led him back to Korea. While on a business trip to New York, he stepped into a cathedral to pray about whether to return to Korea with his soon-to-be wife, who would go back shortly for her work. That same day, he received a call from a headhunter: IBM was hiring a general counsel for Korea.

He got the job.

“That was destiny,” he says. “And that’s how I got married and moved back to Korea.”

Today, his practice includes advising major Korean companies — Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and others — on outbound M&A, international arbitration, and foreign direct investment. “One day I’m in D.C., the next I’m in Tokyo,” he says. “Every day is different, and that’s what I love about being a lawyer.”

Looking back, he’s quick to share the guiding principle that helped him succeed across borders and languages: the “three D’s” — Desire, Dedication, and Discipline. “You have to want something, be willing to dedicate yourself to it, and have the discipline to follow through,” he says. “That’s what I would tell any law student starting out.”