Insights | Kobre & Kim — Disputes and Investigations

Clashing with Titans: Maximizing Returns on Sovereign Judgment Enforcement

The current economic downturn has triggered record-breaking amounts of debt owed by governments to overseas investors.
The crisis, however, has the potential to create large returns for creditors and investors willing to aggressively pursue their claims over a sovereign government.
A proven yet unorthodox cross-border litigation strategy that catches sovereigns by surprise can achieve the monetization of judgments previously thought too tough to enforce.

When Sovereign Judgment Debtors Fight Back: Clashing with Titans

Investors and creditors can gain potentially large returns if they successfully enforce a large judgment against a sovereign debtor.
However, with such high-stakes, sovereign governments have begun fighting back using state powers against creditors, turning civil proceedings into a quasi-criminal cross-border dispute.
A creditor must employ anticipatory and nonconventional counteroffensive measures in order to protect themselves and maximize their odds of success.

Publications August 4, 2020

Benjamin Sauter on the CFTC’s Strategic Plan for Digital Assets

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently outlined its strategic plans for the regulation of cryptocurrencies by 2024. Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter sat down with Forkast.News to explain the potential implications.

Publications July 30, 2020

Michael Kim in Law360: On the Firm’s Past, Present and Future

Kobre & Kim founding partner Michael Kim sat down with Law360 as part of their ongoing “Law Firm Leaders” series to discuss topics such as the firm’s past and future, the lawyers the firm looks for and the effects of the pandemic on business.

Publications July 27, 2020

Wade Weems, Nathan Park and Beau Barnes on How the U.S. Government can Hurt Chinese Social Media App “TikTok”

The U.S. cannot outright “ban” TikTok, a social media app many worry is linked to the Chinese government. However, as Kobre & Kim’s Wade Weems, Nathan Park and Beau Barnes wrote in Foreign Policy, the U.S. government still has numerous tools to use against the app.

Publications July 20, 2020

Evelyn Sheehan on the DOJ’s Challenges in Returning Corrupt Proceeds

Though the U.S. Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative has recovered billions in corrupt proceeds, the return of the money to still corrupt or autocratic regimes without risking further misconduct has been a challenge, Kobre & Kim’s Evelyn Sheehan pointed out when she sat down with Global Investigations Review.

Publications July 20, 2020

Ben Sirota on the DOJ Antitrust Division’s New Approach to Price-Fixing Cases

Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sirota analyzed recent trends in the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s approach to price-fixing cases for Law360’s review of antitrust cases in 2020 so far.

Publications July 17, 2020

Michael Kim and Daniel Lee Explain Extradition in South Korea for GIR

Writing in a chapter for Global Investigations Review’s “GIR Know How: Extradition”, Kobre & Kim’s founding partner Michael Kim and Seoul-based lawyer Daniel Lee detail the current landscape and legal requirements for extradition from South Korea.

Publications July 13, 2020

Wade Weems and John Han on Hong Kong’s Loss of U.S. Preferential Trading Status

The Trump Administration’s recent announcement to end its preferential treatment of Hong Kong in regards to trade bears significant potential consequences for the East Asian city. As such, in a Hong Kong Lawyer article, Kobre & Kim’s Wade Weems and John Han warned Hong Kong-based businesses to prepare for a more troubled U.S.-Hong Kong trading relationship and legal environment.

Publications July 13, 2020

Vasu Muthyala in Law360: Indian Companies Should Prepare for Risk of U.S. Enforcement

Beneath the rosy India-U.S. relationship lies an increased risk of U.S. scrutiny and enforcement against multinational companies operating in India, as current U.S.-China relations demonstrate, Kobre & Kim’s Vasu Muthyala warned in an article for Law360.

Publications July 10, 2020

Podcast: William McGovern on the Recent Rise and Future of Whistleblowing Programs

Kobre and Kim’s William McGovern was featured on Corporate Counsel Business Journal’s “In House Warrior” Podcast to discuss the recent rise in whistleblowing, particularly in the United States and Asia.

Publications July 8, 2020

Lian Lian on COVID-19, cross-border trade disputes, and other global challenges facing Chinese companies in 2020

In advance of Kobre & Kim’s participation in this year’s China International Import Expo (CIIE), Managing Director of China Lian Lian sat down with event organizers to discuss the firm’s decision to attend one of the year’s biggest cross-border trade events, which features importers from every province in China and across every industry.

Publications July 2, 2020

Evelyn Sheehan and Beau Barnes Analyze the DOJ’s Civil Forfeiture Bid Against Iranian Oil En Route to Venezuela

A recent civil forfeiture application from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is further evidence of their increasing attempts to seize assets outside the U.S. in national security cases, Kobre & Kim’s Evelyn Sheehan recently told Global Investigations Review.

Publications June 22, 2020

Jeremy Bressman Discusses Post-COVID-19 Legal Trends with IsraelDesks

Tel Aviv-based lawyer Jeremy Bressman recently sat down with IsraelDesks to discuss trends he is keeping an eye on as the legal landscape adjusts to a world during COVID-19.

Publications June 15, 2020

Kobre & Kim Lawyers on Using U.S. Discovery for Israeli Disputes

Israel parties will face a coming wave of cross-border litigation and arbitration as a result of the COVID-19 economic downturn. Kobre & Kim’s Jeremy Bressman, Farrington Yates and Robert Henoch wrote for Calcalist on how Israel practitioners can boost their cases by leveraging powerful discovery tools in the U.S. that are unavailable in Israel.