Timothy is a UK and South African qualified foreign attorney with over 20 years of law practice in South Africa, England and Korea and is part of the International Practice Group at DR & AJU LLC. Prior to joining DR & AJU, Tim worked at Linklaters in London and at Lovius Block in South Africa.
His practice focuses primarily on commercial transactions, cross-border disputes/arbitations and tech related matters with a strong focus on data privacy and technology-related sectors where he heads up the firms data protection team.
Tim also leads the Africa Desk which has a keen focus on the sectors around the three critical pillars of energy, infrastructure and critical minerals. Since 2017, he set up DR&AJU’s Africa Team along with Ms. Kyeong (Catherine) KIM, where his background and connection to Africa is invaluable. He works closely with a number of the Korean governmental agencies including the Korea-Africa Foundation as a member of their Af-PRO committee and also chairs the South African Chamber of Commerce in Korea.
Tim has also been appointed by the Korean Ministry of Justice to advise SMEs on international transactions and has been appointed by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board to its panel of international arbitrators. In addition, he is a senior foreign contributor to the Law Times in Korea and serves as a member of the Korean Bar Association’s International Committee.
In addition to his practice, Tim frequently gives lectures and speaks at seminars and conferenes on issues in relation to arbitration, data privacy, investment into Korea, and all issues related to Africa.
Founding Member and Chairman, South African Chamber of Commerce in Korea
Appointed by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board to their international arbitrator
Appointed Member of the 1st Public-Private Committee for Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (2024-Present)
Hosted and organised an event which formed part of the official Korea-Africa Summit (2024)
Panelist on the Africa-Korea official Business summit with heads of State
Presented & Hosted at the Korea-Africa Investment Seminar, hosted by DR&AJU-South African Embassy-Korea International Trade Association-ABSA Bank (2024)
Live panel discussion on Arirang TV during the Korea-Africa Summit (2024)
Interview with the Chosun Biz on African-Korea business relations (2024)
Interview with Luxury Magazine on life in Korea as a Foreign lawyer (2024)
Interview with Yonhap News about life in Korea as foreign lawyer (2024)
Moderator at the 2024 Korea-Africa Busniess Forum sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company
Presented and Hosted at the Korea-Africa Investment Seminar, hosted by DR&AJU-South African Embassy-Korea International Trade Association-Standard Bank (2023)
Presented at the VIII Asia Pacific Mediation Conference in Seoul (2023)
Guest speaker at the 2nd Cross Border Eco-systems builders forum
Hosted and presented at the Seoul Arbtiration Week a session on disputes in the new supply chain era (2023)
Participated in the K-lifestyle in Africa hosted by KOTRA in Cape Town, South Africa (2022)
Participated in Korea-Africa Investment Seminar co-hosted by DR & AJU, the South African Embassy Seoul, the Korea-Africa Foundation, the Korea International Trade Association and ABSA Bank (2022)
Participated in Korea-Africa Financial Seminar co-hosted by DR & AJU and the Korea-Africa Foundation (2022)
- Advise Spotify, Expedia, Hotels.com, Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba.com as their local appointed data privacy representative
- Advised Spotify on their KFTC investigation as regards to user terms and conditions
- Advised Christian Dior on their data privacy issues in Korea
- Advised Trivago on its Korean data privacy issues
- Aadvised BAT on data scraping in Korea
- Advised Mercedes Benz on its Korean data privacy issues
Arbitration/disputes
- Represented Hanjin shipping on numerous arbitration matters in Israel, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines etc.
- Represented a Korean national footballer at CAS against FIFA
- Represented a professional volleyball player on their club dispute in Korea
- Represented Dematic in a dispute with Coupang with regards to a smartwarehouse project
- Advised Gongcha on a Customs and tax investigation
- Advising the Trustee on the Madoff Liquidation in regards to Korea matters
- Advised the German Ski Federation on a dispute in regards to accomodation during the Winter olympics in Korea
- Advised Korean Conglomerate on a dispute in Peru and in Congo
- Advised Globetrotter on a dispute in Korea with regards to accomodation during the Winter Olympics in Korea
M&A
- Advised Equalbase on their sale and purchase of the Mercedes Benz Warehouse
- Advised on the sale & purchase of Dwight Foreign School in Seoul
- Advised an investor on the issues surrounding National Core Technology of Magnachip (Korean entity) on its possible sale and purchase by a Chinese entity
- Advised Churchill finance on its purchase and subscription of shares of WireBarely
- Advised Kohlberg and Company on their acquisition on an entity in Korea
Corporate
- Advised Honeywell on a Korean matter in relation to a constitutional court ruling
- Advise Vonage on their corporate operations in Korea
- Advised Isigny on their franchise setup and operation in Korea
- Advised the South African embassy on commercial issues
- Advised Tom Ford on their retail business in South Korea
- Advised Nature republic on a number of their commercial issues
- Advised Equalbase on their sale and purchase of the Mercedes Benz Warehouse
- Advised Korean footballer on their player contract in the EPL
ASEAN Plus Group’s Regional Guide to Asset Management in Asia-Pacific (South Korean Chapter) (2021)
Contributor to Taylor Wessing newsletter on Franchise and Distribution for South Korea (2021)
Speaker at webinar on Electronic gaming – international perspectives on the industry’s explosive growth together with Taylor Wessing (2021)
Participated in the Korea-Africa Foundation Af-Pro Group Meeting (2020)
Discussant as the V Asia Pacific Mediation Conference in Seoul on current developments in Mediation hosted by the Seoul Bar Association, Korean Society of Mediation studies and Fair Trade Commission (2020)
Panelist and Speaker at “COVID-19 and the Acceleration of Digital Payments and Financial Services in Asia-Pacific” hosted by ASEAN Plus (2020)
ASEAN Plus Group’s Guide to the Regulation of Payment Services in Asia-Pacific (South Korea part) (2020)
South Korea's Winter Olympics win technology gold article (2018)
Guidebook on Investment in South Africa (2017)
Participated in a corporate meeting with Augustine P. Mahiga, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Republic of Tanzania (2017)
Speaker for “Investment Seminar on South Africa” hosted by South African Embassy in Korea, Federation of Korean Industries, and Korea-Africa Center (2017)
Speaker for “Korea-Africa Business Forum” hosted by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korea-Africa Center, and Korea Chamber of Commerce (2017)
Speaker for “Seminar on How to Approach African Market” hosted by Korea International Trade Association (2017)
Presenter at Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry / DR & AJU co-hosted breakfast seminar entitled “Identifying and Avoiding Dispute Resolution Pitfalls in Korea” (2017)
Invited to lecture on International Arbitration at Seoul National University School of Law on (2017)
Panelist for “Dinner in Honor of H. E. Georges Chikoti, Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of Angola” hosted by Korea-Africa Center (2017)
Speaker for “Investment Seminar on Major Middle Eastern and African Countries”, introducing the South African market, hosted by KOTRA (2016)
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