David Waters is a senior foreign attorney at Kim & Chang. His practice focuses on corporate compliance & investigations, workplace discrimination & sexual harassment, and competition law. He has extensive experience with the global operations of multinational companies and managing reputational, legal, regulatory and compliance matters for those companies.

Mr. Waters has been working in Korea for over 20 years, with experience both as an in-house and law firm attorney. He started his legal career in 1997 in Washington, DC as an international trade lawyer at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, before moving to Korea in 2000 to join Kim & Chang. He left Kim & Chang to join IBM Korea in 2004, later joining GM Korea in 2013. He returned to Kim & Chang as a senior foreign attorney in 2016.

Mr. Waters is past president of the In-House Counsel Forum, an organization of over 1,000 in-house lawyers in Korea. He is current co-chair of the Compliance & Ethics Committee of American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM). In addition, in 2012 the Korea Bar Association appointed David as a member of the Foreign Legal Consultant Disciplinary Action Committee, an entity established under the Foreign Legal Consultants Act. He is also past Vice President of the Seoul Club, where he served as Chair of its Membership Committee.

Mr. Waters was previously recognized as one of Asia’s leading 25 in-house counsel by Asian Legal Business.

Mr. Waters first came to Korea in 1988 as an exchange student, and later enrolled in the College of Law at Seoul National University, becoming the first non-Korean to attend and graduate from that College in 1994. Including his time as a student, he has lived in Korea for over 20 years.

Mr. Waters is a native of California. He obtained his B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has law degrees from Columbia University (J.D.) and Seoul National University (LL.B.). He is fluent in written and spoken Korean.