Mr. Joachim Nowak is a Foreign (German) Attorney at Law at DR & AJU LLC. His practice is primarily focused on Corporate, Company Establishment & Foreign Investments, Labor & Employment, Cross-Border Transactions, Mergers & Acquisitions, Anti-Trust Law, and Arbitration.

Mr. Joachim Nowak is the first ever German-licensed attorney to work in Korea, who has been assisting and contributing to the European clients’ entry into and expansion in Korea, especially for the clients from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH stands for Deutschland, Austria and the Confœderatio Helvetica, known as Switzerland).

Prior to coming to Korea to work for Kim, Shin & Yu as the first German-licensed lawyer in 1998, he held a variety of elected governmental positions in the German city of Überlingen am Bodensee from 1989 to 1998. During that time, he had also completed a banker apprenticeship at the Bezirkssparkasse Überlingenam Bodensee and studied law at the University of Constance, and thereafter served as a Rechtsreferendar (a person receiving practical training in judicial or other legal work after having passed the first state examination) at the District Court of Constance.

During his career as a German lawyer in Korea for more than 25 years, Joachim Nowak has represented numerous clients in various areas covering all matters which any foreign clients may be faced with, including without limitation investments into Korea, company establishment, mergers & acquisitions, matters related to employment and labor law, antitrust law, and insurance, re-insurance, and banking law.

Mr. Nowak currently assists German speaking clients as Co-Head of the DACH Team and serves as an arbitrator at the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board.

He is also the founder and the managing director of Nowak & Partner Co., Ltd. (www.nowak-partner.com), a consulting firm specialized in advising foreign companies, particularly those companies from Europe and the United States, on business (not legal) aspects in Korea. Nowak & Partner Co., Ltd. offers classic services such as recruiting, interim management, advice on market entry, and solutions for various problems. Nowak & Partner Co., Ltd. is de facto led by Mr. Elias Peterle, a German with an engineer and business background, and Ms. Dong-In Yi, a Korean businesswoman (the founder and the former CEO of Voiceye Inc., a Korean software company which developed its own bar code/matrix technology widely used by the Korean Government and many industries in Korea).

Mr. Nowak publishes a German language company guide on Korea (currently third edition) and other publications, both in English and German (e.g., Asian Arbitration Guide, Korean part; ADWA Investitionsführer Asien, Korean part).

In 2013, Mr. Nowak served as the founding president of the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK).

In 2016, he had been one of four co-founders of ADWA PTE LTD (ADWA – Allianz Deutscher Wirtschaftsanwälte in Asien or Alliance of German Business Lawyers in Asia, www.adwa-law.com), and is since representing the Republic of Korea in the network of German and Austrian Attorneys at Law, all living and practicing in Asia, particularly in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Since 2013 Mr. Nowak is a member of the CBBL – Cross Border Business lawyers (www.cbbl-lawyers.de) network, representing the Republic of Korea in the network of German speaking Attorneys of Law in 63 countries around the world.

Since 2020 Mr. Nowak is an honorable citizen of the Metropolitan City of Seoul, and engages in associations on cultural aspects, especially with regard to the DACH community in Korea.