Tenny Kyungtae Kim

Impetus

The name is simple. Tae is my name. Partners is the point.

In most firms, partner is a title you wait for. It comes with years, with a book of clients, with a seat at the table. I do not think that is what makes a partner. A partner is someone who acts like one. Someone who takes ownership of the file, the client and the outcome without being asked. If you do that with ten months of experience, you are already a partner. If you do not do it with ten years, the title means nothing.

That is the standard I hold myself to, and it is the standard I hire against. The name of the firm is a reminder of it, to me and to everyone who works here.

What I do

I act for people injured on the road, at work and in public places across Queensland and New South Wales. I also run total and permanent disability, income protection and superannuation insurance claims for clients in every state. I hold a Queensland practising certificate and I am the firm’s legal practitioner director. I practise in English and Korean.

How I got here

My father moved our family from Busan to Brisbane in 2000. I finished school at John Paul College, studied law at Bond University, graduated in 2006 with the prize for Public Interest Law, and completed my Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at Bond in 2007. I have been writing about Queensland compensation claims since 2008, back when the area was unfamiliar to most of the Korean community here.

Before Tae & Partners I spent years building and running a personal injury practice from the inside. I took it paperless when that was still unusual. I built an offshore team and the automation to run it. I put AI to work on routine legal tasks well before it was fashionable. And I grew the business into a large private enterprise with several subsidiaries, some acquired outright and some in part.

TPOS

Most of the friction in a personal injury claim has nothing to do with the law. It is paperwork, chasing and waiting. So I built TPOS, our own practice platform, to take that work off the desk. Routine steps run themselves. Lawyers spend their time on the parts that need judgment. Clients watch their file move through a portal instead of wondering what is happening.

I intend to release TPOS to the wider Australian legal profession at no cost.

Recognition

In 2023 Brisbane City Council named me Multicultural Entrepreneur of the Year at the Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Awards for Business. In 2024 I received a Republic of Korea Presidential Commendation. Doyle’s Guide listed me among the Leading Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyers in Brisbane in 2015, and I am a member of the Queensland Law Society.

I lead the firm from Brisbane and work across our Sydney, Gold Coast and Melbourne offices.