Foreign Local Counsel Colleagues (continued) We maintain close relationships with international in-house counsel in many companies, at times in client relationships, and such individuals are key supplemental sources of local counsel information. Our leadership activities in international bar associations, such as the committee chairmanship with the Inter-Pacific Bar Association held by one of our principals, have also been an excellent source of information. Yet, a lawyer only becomes our "preferred partner" based on our actual working experience with him or her. As with the practice of many major companies, we avoid exclusive relationships with a particular firm in any country or region and attempt instead to develop 2 or more "preferred partners" in each country. (The sophisticated joint venture may demand a different skill set than would input on a routine contract matter or the resolution of a politically sensitive dispute.) In contrast to the approach of many law firms, we find that the numerous "law firm networks" often focus more on cross-referral opportunities among lawyers than on the best interests of the client. Also as with the approach of many major companies, we work with the foreign offices of U.S. or U.K. law firms only in those (relatively uncommon) instances when they house the very best local lawyers for our needs. Since we provide the "gatekeeper" function which may be offered by a law firm with multiple offices, we find that the multiple-office model works best for the likes of multiple-country securities offerings or infrastructure projects, not the much more typical cross-border transaction between one country and another. Return to Our Team back to top | home Copyright 1997-2009, InternationalCounsel. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.