Seong Kim
USC Gould School of Law

Seong Kim is a partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, Los Angeles (Century City) office. He also spends considerable time in the firm’s Seoul office, representing Korean companies in a variety of disputes.

Kim is known for his exceptional winning record at trials and arbitrations, having obtained judgments and settlements totaling hundreds of million dollars. Some of the largest companies around the world turn to Kim to protect their interests.

Chambers and Partners recognized Kim for his “strong track record” and for his “creative legal solutions.” Legal 500 US noted that Kim is “renowned for his skill and effectiveness.” IAM Patent 1000 recognized Kim for “his sharpened trial skills, impressive match stats and ebullient client reviews,” stating: “He is extremely efficient and resolves matters quickly, but always with an eye on quality. He provides a very high level of service.”

Kim also taught Advanced Trial Techniques as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. He has lectured at trial technique seminars for various lawyer/bar associations in the United States, Asia and Latin America.

Kim is a contributing author of the Treatise, Trade Secret Litigation and Protection in California, published by the Intellectual Property Section of the California State Bar. He is also a member of the California State Bar's Continuing Education of the Bar, Real Property Advisory Committee.

Kim has been featured and quoted in various publications including the Daily Journal, the Los Angeles Business Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He was also featured as a “Minority Power Broker” by Law360.

Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin, Kim was a partner of an Am-Law 100 law firm, where he served as a member of its Executive Committee, as the Head of Korea Commercial Litigation, Co-Head of the Korea Practice Group, and Co-Managing Partner of that firm’s Los Angeles and Century City offices.
 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Los Angeles Times
May 11, 2022
Re: Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo was interviewed about how immigration shortfalls, like soaring housing prices, are fueling California’s population drop. “A whole assortment of the service sector area has been tremendously affected by a lack of immigrant labor that we haven’t really seen and is just really unprecedented,” she said. “Immigrant labor has been a huge part of the long-term home care sector, and a decline in the population in California has had a significant effect.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Ariela Gross
March, 2022

“Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana,” Centre International de Recherches sur les Esclavages at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.

Camille Gear Rich
March, 2022

“No More Boxes to Check: Imagining The Anti-Racist Law Firm,” NALP Annual Education Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Thomas D. Lyon
March, 2022

“Disclosure Among Child Abuse Victims” (with K. London and M. Eisen), Fourth Zoom Psychology and Law Symposium: Children in Legal Settings, Maastrict University, Maastricht, Netherlands.