Meeting of Legal Counsel International

The office of De Berardinis & Mozzi Law Firm in Rome was the venue for a meeting this month of some members of Legal Counsel International (LCI), an alliance of lawyers in 17 countries who regularly work together on cross-border matters.

Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors has been part of LCI since 1993 and partner Trevor Coward attended the event to meet some of the other members of LCI.

from left to right:
Vincenzo Mozzi and Paulo De Berardinis of De Berardinis & Mozzi, Rome
Trevor Coward  of Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors LLP, Milton Keynes
Akana Ma of Ater Wynne,  Portland, Oregon
Thomas Oerter of Krömer, Steger, Westhoff, Dusseldorf
Nicola Romano of Castaldi Mourre & Partners, Milan and Paris
Vladislav Zabrodin of Capital Legal Services, Moscow and St Petersburg

Later in the day a further meeting was held which also included other LCI members who were also in Rome in connection with the IBA Conference.

Hiroyuki Kamano of the Kamano Sogo Law Offices, Tokyo
Willem den Hertog of den Hertog Legal, The Hague
Andrew Frei of Dale & Lessmann LLP, Toronto

Membership of Legal Counsel International has played a major role in Geoffrey Leaver’s ability to assist its clients deal with legal matters around the world.

Here are just a few examples of how these international connections enable us to deliver the advice and assistance our clients need no matter where in the world the issues arise:

• When a world-leading equipment manufacturer needed good lawyers in Vietnam to purchase their new factory there and deal with the associated legal work, both LCI members Akana Ma in Portland and Prem Rai in New Delhi recommended the same firm to us in Vietnam, who have done an excellent job working with us to achieve the clients’ objectives.
• A major Milton Keynes engineering company had to act quickly when it discovered that the director of its Singapore subsidiary had acted dishonestly. In Kuala Lumpur, Beng Chai of Tay & Partners, introduced us to ATM Bird and Bird LLP in Singapore, who worked with us to obtain swift injunctions in Singapore. At the same time we engaged lawyers in New Zealand to secure simultaneous orders and recovered a helicopter which the wayward director had bought, using company money as part of a new illicit business venture.
• When another of our clients needed lawyers in Sweden to advise on a shareholders’ agreement, our LCI member Vlad Zabrodin of Moscow and St Petersburg knew just the right firm to work with us on that task.
• We also reached out to Hiroyuki Kamano of Tokyo when our client needed advice in Japan with regard to terminating a distribution agreement, and we later engaged Willem den Hertog in the Netherlands for similar advice.  We separately engaged Willem den Hertog to deal with issues arising when an observation balloon, being tested for use in Afghanistan broke its moorings in England, and was carried over the channel to Holland.
• Thomas Oerter of Krömer, Steger, Westhoff, Dusseldorf has also successfully dealt with various commercial and personal matters on behalf of a number of our clients.
• Another of our major clients has appointed Shane Weir of Weir and Associates in Hong Kong for their Hong Kong subsidiary.  The same client used lawyers in the US recommended by Akana Ma, Ater Wynne of Portland on the termination of their US distribution agreement and we again consulted Ater Wynne regarding the renewal of a trade mark in the US.

In each of these cases the close relationship built with other LCI members over the years has been crucial in creating the groundwork to successfully meet our clients’ international needs promptly and professionally, to the high standard we and they expect, at agreed rates, and within budget.

Along with Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors, the other members of Legal Counsel International are in Canada; Czech Republic; France; Germany; Hong Kong; India; Israel; Italy; Japan; Malaysia; Portugal; Russia; Spain; Taiwan and China; the Netherlands and the USA.