With the increasing growth of the global economy, providing full-service assistance to our clients necessitates an ability to provide high quality global services. The International practice group has readily embraced this challenge. We offer seamless full service assistance (both the outbound and inbound) in all types of cross-border transactions spanning a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, agricultural, manufacturing, telecommunications, food and beverage, brewing, agrochemical, petrochemical, apparel, information systems, and electronics. Members of the International practice group have counseled clients in transactions all over the globe including Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Russian Federation, Middle East and Asia and the Pacific Rim (especially China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, India and Thailand).
The International practice group’s primary focus is assisting U.S. companies with a wide variety of overseas transactions ranging from the negotiation and formation of contractual arrangements to the complexities involved in establishing direct investments overseas. We regularly help our clients with financial transactions, intellectual property protection, global management, taxation and cross border insolvency issues. Another key focus is on international trade, where we handle trade remedy actions before the Court of International Trade, as well as customs regulations, export controls, and trade compliance.
When a foreign company is considering establishing an operation in the United States, the International practice group provides important counseling to identify domestic legal issues and provide advice concerning federal, state and local incentives, capital investment, intellectual property, litigation, environmental compliance, taxation, employment and personnel matters. Because our lawyers routinely practice in these areas they are able to provide valuable assistance during this initial planning stage to avoid future problems and minimize organizational costs.
The International practice group, in conjunction with the Litigation department, represents clients in commercial disputes involving international legal issues in various federal courts and also has experience using alternative dispute resolution procedures, including those of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). International attorneys not only have experience in obtaining and taking discovery abroad, but also with the various conventions that control these processes.
Armstrong Teasdale offers its foreign clients assistance in obtaining visas and temporary or permanent work permits for necessary personnel and can represent the client and its personnel with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In an effort to serve the needs of clients in the rapidly developing China market, The China Alliance was established by four leading independent law firms in response to the increasing importance of China to the global marketplace and to North American businesses. The four law firms, the U.S. firms of Armstrong Teasdale LLP, Butzel Long and Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, and the Canadian firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, have agreed to collaborate in the development of their respective China practices. Office facilities in Shanghai and Beijing offer clients on-the-ground capabilities in China’s primary business and regulatory centers.
Another important part of our capacity to serve international businesses lies in our longstanding network of foreign contacts. Armstrong Teasdale is a member of Lex Mundi, which consists of 161 independent firms throughout the world. Collectively, the members of Lex Mundi comprise more than 15,000 attorneys and 475 offices worldwide.
For more information, please contact Jennifer Schwesig.