Joon Kim

Joon H. Kim is a member of Cleary Gottlieb’s Executive Committee. His practice focuses on litigation and enforcement, including internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, high stakes litigation and arbitration, and crisis management.

Joon has enjoyed a distinguished career at the highest levels of government and in private practice at the firm, personally trying over a dozen federal jury trials and actively participating in dozens more. A recognized leader of the bar, he is regularly called upon to represent and advise companies, boards, government agencies, and senior executives in their most serious and consequential matters.

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 of the United States and supervised the work of about 220 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, corruption, money laundering, cybercrime, tax, terrorism, racketeering, Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations, theft of trade secrets, and economic espionage, as well as civil rights, false claims act, civil enforcement, and environmental matters. Before becoming Acting U.S. Attorney, Joon 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. He rejoined the firm in 2018.