Dallas trial lawyer Greg Brassfield is moving to Seoul to become the deputy general counsel of litigation at Coupang.
The Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann partner announced the news on LinkedIn on Tuesday.
“The opportunity scratched a lot of professional and personal interests I’ve had for a long time,” Brassfield told The Texas Lawbook. “The goals of the company align with my vision for litigation to be used to be accretive to business and not just a drain.”
Brassfield’s name came up when Harold Rogers, general counsel and chief administrative officer of Coupang, searched his network for the right person to help build out a brand new role in the growing legal department. Brassfield began talks with Rogers and even was brought in to handle an investigations matter early this year.
The Fortune 150 e-commerce company has headquarters in Seattle, but most of its operations are in Asia in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Brassfield said he is excited about the opportunity to build out a world-class dispute resolution team at a company that has “become a gem of Korean culture.”
“There will be a little bit of feeling it out and seeing how big we will need the group,” he said. “The initial thinking is a team of three to five lawyers on litigation.”
Brassfield admitted he had some anxiety about leaving a law firm that took a chance on him and made him partner, but he has been humbled and impressed by the firm’s response.
“It made what I thought would be an extraordinarily difficult decision relatively seamless,” said Brassfield, who made partner at Lynn Pinker at the end of 2022. “But for my time at LPHS, where I have had meaningful opportunities early in my career, I don’t think I am qualified for this position.”
“Greg has been such an important part of our firm’s story,” said Lynn Pinker managing partner Chris Schwegmann. “His energy, creativity, and mentorship made us all better lawyers, and he helped us build something special. While we will miss him greatly, I couldn’t be more excited for Greg and his family as they take on this new adventure in Korea. Coupang is lucky to have him.”
Brassfield also highlighted the “LPHS diaspora,” pointing out that alumni of the firm are now the heads of litigation at Keurig Dr Pepper (Stephen Cole), Energy Transfer (Sam Hardy), Coupang and Public Storage (Andrew Hansbrough) and have gone on to lead the Dallas offices of Gibson Dunn (Trey Cox) and Dowd Bennett (Ben Barnes).
Passing on the same opportunities he received as an up-and-coming trial lawyer at Lynn Pinker is what Brassfield has found most fulfilling in his seven and a half years at the firm.
“I’m most proud of the level of new, young talent the firm has been able to attract and get into the courtroom,” he said. “I’ve most enjoyed getting the first, second, and third-year associates in front of the fact finder.”
Brassfield just received his visa and will fly to Seoul on Aug. 31. The plan is to travel back and forth through the end of the semester before making the full move in the new year with his wife and four kids, ages 17 to 11. In the meantime, Coupang has assigned Brassfield a tutor for two hours twice a week to learn Korean.
“I want to get as proficient as I can,” he said.