INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE - OUR FOUNDATION
Our ability to deliver international legal capabilities grows first and foremost out of our broad experience as international legal counsel to major as well as emerging companies, both while in-house (such as with National Semiconductor, Motorola, Abbott Laboratories and Kmart Corporation) and through practice in law firms in the U.S., Asia and Europe. We have been responsible for each of the key areas of a company's cross-border expansion:
- Structuring, negotiating and documenting business transactions, typically in connection with entry into new international markets.
- Identifying and creatively applying laws and regulations which govern trade and investment, whether in connection with barriers to new market entry or regulations governing cross-border activities.
- Retaining and managing appropriate foreign lawyers, as well as setting their ground rules to ensure that company objectives are met on time and on budget.
Our typical projects have included the full range of matters faced by internationalizing companies, such as:
- Structuring the organization of foreign operations
- Securing approval to do business under foreign investment laws
- Resolving cross-border import, export and tax issues, including U.S. and foreign customs issues, export licensing and tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade
- Negotiating and documenting corporate financing arrangements, including through commercial and governmental lenders
- Structuring, negotiating and implementing foreign sourcing and distribution strategies, including manufacturing, agency and distribution relationships
- Structuring, negotiating and implementing joint ventures, partnerships and other forms of strategic alliances as well as acquisitions and mergers
- Implementing management and control policies for cross-border legal issues
- Resolving employment and termination issues for expatriate and local personnel
Such project experience has extended across a broad range of countries, whether in Asia and the Pacific, the United States, Canada and Mexico, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East or Africa. As with members of the best in-house international legal departments, while our experience is grounded on particular depth in key markets, we are able to lead our clients into even the lesser-known territories where the rules are just beginning to take shape.
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AN INTERNATIONAL COUNSEL ROLE FOR BOTH EMERGING AND ESTABLISHED CLIENTS
We work with companies which do not otherwise have in-house international legal capabilities. We also serve as a supplemental counsel for companies with an experienced general counsel and/or other in-house international specialists.
In companies which do not employ an in-house international attorney, the general counsel or members of the business team may be required to supervise and resolve international legal matters when their efforts may be better focused elsewhere. For such companies we can deliver what would not otherwise be available - an international legal expert who can function more as a colleague down the hall than as an outside service provider. We have found that our competitive fees help make the case for using our services even more compelling.
Even the most experienced international counsel at the largest companies will at times require supplemental assistance, preferably from advisors with the ability to step directly into their roles with minimal guidance. Often what is needed is an extra body in the law department, whether electronically linked or periodically available on-site, rather than the services provided by a company's outside law firms. Hiring a full-time person may not make sense when the needs are temporary or can be handled on a less-than full-time basis. Drawing on the rosters of "temporary lawyer" agencies may prove to be equally inadequate, particularly if in-depth international experience is lacking and given that the better candidates are likely to disappear with their first full-time opportunity. By contrast, InternationalCounsel is an established practice built on our ability to sustain long-term relationships.
Our relationships with the largest companies also offers an ongoing advantage to our emerging international clients. A continuing involvement with companies at the forefront of international developments and techniques for delivering legal services more effectively (and less expensively) allows us to stay abreast of and deliver such expertise to clients at earlier stages of their international development.
AN IN-HOUSE COUNSEL PERSPECTIVE - SOME EXAMPLES
Our backgrounds and continuing opportunity to act in the capacity of in-house international counsel have given us a perspective with much more in common with our in-house peers than with outside counsel in major law firms.
Our client services are built on the assimilated lessons of our in-house experience, including:
Of course, the proof of any service provider claims is in the delivery. We strive to make ourselves available to get to know a potential client, preferably at your place of business, and generally without charge. We also welcome any trial project, no matter how seemingly mundane or inconsequential. Finally, since we view every relationship as an opportunity to keep abreast of developments with internationalizing companies, we are open to informally (and without running the meter) exchanging views on your projects, local counsel and our experience with foreign market conditions.
- Commitment of a Senior Professional: In our relationships with our clients, we emphasize one-on-one relationships with an experienced and efficient attorney. In contrast to traditional law firm staffing which relies on inexperienced associates with only "big picture" oversight by the responsible partner, we believe in hands-on performance by a senior lawyer.
- International Legal Managers, Not Mere Technicians: We view ourselves as part of a company's management team, not legal technicians for isolated transactions. Apart from carefully managing our own time and resources, we are prepared to manage and control foreign legal counsel, assist with developing corporate policies for compliance with international legal matters (such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) and to assume the role of an in-house legal manager.
- Working with Foreign Laws: We believe that our ability to identify and apply foreign law and practice is one of our core strengths. Over the years, we have developed sources and methods of identifying the major legal issues, including applicable statutes, in a broad range of international markets. We can do this quickly and effectively, even before reaching-out to our extensive network of local counsel in those markets.
- Working with Our Network of Foreign Legal Counsel: Despite our abilities to identify and apply foreign law, capable and responsive foreign legal counsel are an essential part of the process, especially for up-to-the-minute guidance on the state of the law and, crucially, its real-world application. Our philosophy is to retain primary structuring and drafting responsibility for international projects and to limit foreign legal counsel to a more narrow review and support role. Such an approach can help achieve international consistency of advice and drafting and also has control and budgeting advantages.
- Working with Lean Corporate Resources: It is difficult to find a law firm that does not profess to deliver "practical, business-minded solutions." Our mix of law firm and in-house experience tells us that such habits are best developed under conditions of lean corporate budgets with managers who will not accept anything other than practical, cost-effective solutions.
- Fees for Professional Services: We price our services at competitive rates, currently in the range of U.S.$300 to $375 per hour for our principal attorneys. Apart from a traditional hourly billing approach, we are also willing to enter into fee arrangements which offer the predictability of an "in-house equivalent" legal counsel.
- Self-Reliant, Mobile Communications and Computing: Anyone who has lived on planes and in hotels for extended periods understands the challenges of putting-together complicated joint ventures and other projects without the luxury of support staff and familiar office-based computing systems. We stress a need for self-reliant and mobile communications capabilities, greatly enhancing our ability to travel, commit to a periodic on-site presence and generally respond more rapidly and efficiently.
- Strengths and Limitations: One of our core strengths is our strategic focus: to serve as the legal component of a client's international expansion effort. As with responsible in-house professionals, we do not pretend to be the solution to every problem and do not hesitate to recommend additional expertise where needed.
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