Law Office of John S. Kim Law Office of John S. Kim
Return to Main Site
EN|KO
Selected Experience

Carlyle Portfolio Company: Global Restructuring

How John S. Kim, as General Counsel of a Carlyle Group portfolio company, directed legal affairs across a Seoul headquarters, a New York branch and nine overseas factories, and led a company-wide restructuring through the pandemic.

General Counsel, a Carlyle Group portfolio company
Selected-experience card on a pale sunrise ground titled “Carlyle Portfolio Company: Global Restructuring,” showing a city skyline at dawn with angled inset photographs of factory floors, above two paragraphs on the general-counsel role and the restructuring that followed. The Law Office of John S. Kim wordmark and the line “International Business & Commercial Counsel” appear in the lower left.
As General Counsel, directed legal affairs across a Seoul headquarters, a New York branch and nine overseas factories, and led a company-wide restructuring during pandemic-driven financial strain. PNG master · 2896 × 2172 · select the image to open it at full resolution

The company

The employer was a company held in a Carlyle fund's portfolio — not the Carlyle Group itself. That distinction matters and is kept throughout: Mr. Kim was General Counsel of the portfolio company, with responsibility for its legal affairs.

The matter

As General Counsel he directed legal affairs across the company's Seoul headquarters, its New York branch and nine overseas factories employing approximately 23,500 people. Through the financial strain of the pandemic he advised executive leadership and the board, led a company-wide workforce restructuring, and secured significant relief from unfavorable supply commitments with major global customers.

Why it was demanding

Three different kinds of work ran at once and under acute time pressure: multinational general-counsel responsibility across jurisdictions, board-level advice while the financial position was deteriorating, and the renegotiation of commercial obligations that had been agreed in better conditions.

Relevance today

Companies rarely restructure when conditions are calm. The Law Office of John S. Kim advises as outside general counsel, on corporate governance and compliance, and on the commercial contracts that come under pressure when a business has to change shape quickly.

Related