Joon H. Kim

Joon H. Kim is a partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, focusing on white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, regulatory enforcement, as well as commercial litigation and arbitration.  He regularly represents companies and individuals in their most significant criminal and regulatory matters, disputes, and legal crises.

Mr. Kim has enjoyed a distinguished legal career of over 25 years reaching the highest levels of government and private practice.  He is an accomplished trial lawyer who has personally tried over a dozen federal jury trials and actively supervised dozens more.

From March 2017 to January 2018, he served as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As the most senior federal law enforcement officer in the district, he oversaw all criminal and civil litigation conducted on behalf the United States and supervised the work of about 220 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, cybercrime, domestic and foreign corruption, money laundering, cryptocurrency, tax litigation, terrorism, racketeering, Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations, theft of trade secrets and economic espionage, as well as civil rights, civil enforcement, and environmental matters. Before becoming Acting U.S. Attorney, Mr. Kim served in various leadership positions in the office, including Deputy U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Criminal Division, and Chief Counsel to the U.S. Attorney.

Mr. Kim joined Cleary Gottlieb in 1997 as an associate in the litigation group. From 2000 to 2006, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. From 2006 to 2013, he was part of the firm’s enforcement and litigation group, becoming partner in 2009. He rejoined the firm in 2018, following his second tour at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Mr. Kim is phi beta kappa graduate of Stanford University and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.  Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.