800-951-4888 x87-3626
jay.kim@ropesgray.com

I am a partner in the corporate group specializing in leveraged financing transactions. I was born in Seoul, Korea. I came to the United States as a toddler and spent most of my life through college in the Chicago area. My first foray out of the Midwest was right after graduation from Northwestern University. This adventure lasted almost two years in Germany and Belgium. At that time, the world was still a huge place and English was not as commonly spoken as today. I had never heard of the Internet, email or cell phones, calling home cost two dollars a minute, and I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to go to a foreign country alone. While living and working in a foreign country was a shock to my Midwestern sensibilities, it was also one of the greatest experiences of my life. The people wanted to know everything about American culture, particularly from an Asian American. Oddly, it was through that experience that I first felt completely American. I had been self-conscious about my diversity growing up, sometimes feeling like an immigrant with no place to call home. My exposure to very different cultures and perspective expanded my ways of thinking, including how I viewed myself.

Ropes & Gray has a distinct culture developed over the many years of its existence. That seems hardly a recipe for diversity, yet it is exactly that. Ropes & Gray, together with its people, has thrived because its core value is simply to be the best in every way. Fundamental to that is the belief that diversity of all kinds, whether ethnic, cultural, geographic or other, enriches the firm. By constantly seeking ways to challenge itself to think and be different, the firm has grown and grown better. Every day, we and our clients become more global. In this shrinking world, I think Ropes & Gray is a great place to call home.

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