Protecting your interests around the world.

While the new world economy creates exciting business opportunities, it also makes the need for experienced and innovative counsel more critical. At Foley Hoag, we help our clients identify new global markets, structure deals, protect their intellectual and financial capital, obtain necessary governmental support, and resolve disputes  -- virtually everywhere.

› Europe 
› Latin America and the Caribbean 
› Asia and the Pacific 
› Malaysia 
› North America 
› Africa and the Middle East

Our clients, based around the world, include huge multinational organizations, small startups, governments and their agencies, seasoned investors and young entrepreneurs. Our international practice provides comprehensive advice and assistance to clients with legal and business challenges involving: 

  • Business and Investments 
  • Arbitration and Litigation 
  • Government Relations and Lobbying 
  • Intellectual Property Protection 
  • Corporate Social Responsibility and Risk Management 
  • International Taxation 
  • Privatization and Law Reform

Through intensive work in the international arena, we have developed special expertise in assisting corporations with the unique challenges of doing business in the developing world, and in protecting the interests of foreign corporations and governments in the United States.

Foley Hoag recognizes that our clients want lawyers who build bridges, not roadblocks, especially in the complex international environment. For this reason, our international lawyers take a problem-solving approach to your matters, using well-developed sensitivities to the cultural and structural differences shaping the success of international endeavors.

Through our in-depth transnational experience, language abilities and membership in Lex Mundi, the world's leading association of independent law firms with members in more than 115 countries, Foley Hoag provides you with cost-effective, global resources aimed at accomplishing your strategic missions. 

EUROPE [top]

Businesses, governments and individuals choose Foley Hoag as their European counsel for the same reason the French government turned to us when it needed an opinion about the intersection of U.S. and international business law. This is partially because of our ability to transact business in 11 European languages; as well as our diverse experience in 23 European countries.

Whether you plan to invest in a cross-border merger or acquisition, create a venture capital fund or secure worldwide franchising and licensing rights, our wide-ranging international experience can help you achieve virtually any European business objective.

Defending Your Interests

If your investment is threatened, we can defend your interests vigorously, in court or arbitration. This is why governments choose us to represent them before the World Court and the World Trade Organization; and corporations ask us to arbitrate their claims before the International Chamber of Commerce, the London Court of International Arbitration and other European arbitral bodies.

Representative Experience

Business and Investment 

  • A U.S. publicly traded company acquired our client, a UK-based software company, in a transaction that gave our client’s stockholders illiquid stock. Our solution: a private tender in the United Kingdom by the acquirer of our client’s shares, followed by a series of secondary offerings in the United States resulting in more than $100 million in liquidity for our client’s stockholders. 
  • When the euro became the European Union’s official currency, the Government of France turned to Foley Hoag for a legal opinion on the impact of a single European currency on public and private contracts governed by U.S. law. 
  • We were counsel in a billion-dollar merger that created a Luxembourg-based, multinational cellular telephone company, and one of the cellular industry’s first international data and financial clearinghouses. We also helped a Luxembourg-chartered, satellite-based broadband Internet and interactive digital television company with a successful private placement involving high-profile U.S. and European investors.

Arbitration and Litigation

  • Our clients, the Government of the Philippines and its National Power Corporation, claimed in arbitration conducted in Switzerland under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce, that a nuclear power plant designed and built by a major multinational company was unsafe and that the construction contract was procured by bribery. The result: a settlement of more than $100,000,000 for our clients. 
  • Our lawyers were counsel for Nicaragua in its historic legal triumph over the United States at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The court issued a landmark ruling that U.S. mining of Nicaragua’s ports and support for rebels seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government violated international law. The United States was ordered to cease its aggression against Nicaragua. Uganda also chose us to represent it before the court, in a case filed against it by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN [top]

Our work for multinational companies, private enterprises and governments in Latin America spans the region, from telecommunications in Costa Rica to forestry in Chile. With equal facility in Spanish and English, our international team has become a welcome and invaluable resource for businesses launching products and services in new global markets, and for governments seeking to spur economic growth by improving the performance of key national industries.

Representative Experience

Government Relations and Lobbying 

  • Appointed by the Organization of American States to mediate a long-standing territorial dispute between Guatemala and Belize. As a result, we produced an historic settlement that both parties agreed to submit to popular referendum. 
  • When the Government of Nicaragua sought to end a destructive civil war, it asked a member of our international team to help it negotiate with rebel forces. Our efforts contributed to an historic cease-fire agreement that led to rebel disarmament and Nicaragua’s first democratic elections. Our lobbying in Washington, D.C., helped the new government secure more than $200,000,000 in U.S. economic aid.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Risk Management 

  • Assisted the World Bank in advising El Salvador and other Central American governments regarding the establishment of responsible corporate practices regarding human rights, labor rights and the environment. Our analysis of over forty codes of conduct developed by multinational corporations, unions, multi-stakeholder groups and NGOs now guides regional practices in the light manufacturing, agro-business and tourism sectors.

Business and Investment 

  • Asked to structure and manage a transaction in Chile involving parties in five different countries, we created a multinational joint venture. The joint venture made strategic investments worth more than $125 million in Chilean forestry and paper companies by pension funds and other institutional investors. 
  • One of our corporate telecommunications clients was locked in a dispute with the Government of Costa Rica’s telecommunications ministry over the sale and installation of a cellular phone system. Commercial relations were cut off, and each side claimed the other owed it millions of dollars. We negotiated a settlement that netted more than $2 million for our client, and enabled it to win profitable new contracts. 
  • A Norwegian client had an innovative plan to sell catastrophic health insurance to non-U.S. nationals, affording them healthcare in the finest U.S. hospitals. We helped this client incorporate in Bermuda and market its product in Brazil. This required negotiating an interlocking set of agreements for distribution of primary insurance through one of Brazil’s largest insurance companies, and placement of reinsurance with Brazil’s national reinsurance company.

Privatization and Law Reform 

  • When the Government of Guyana sought to privatize state-owned enterprises, Foley Hoag was retained to provide strategic and legal advice. We played an integral role in preparing the offering memoranda and RFPs, supervising the competitive bidding process, and negotiating and drafting the final agreements. We also drafted new legislation to facilitate private investment in Guyana, including modern laws to regulate the energy, securities, insurance and electric power industries.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC [top]

We routinely assist clients doing business throughout Asia and the Pacific; and we protect them aggressively when their rights are infringed. Whether safeguarding intellectual property, structuring investments or negotiating complex cross-border transactions, our clients find our sensitivity to the way business is conducted in Asia and the Pacific critical to achieving their objectives.

Representative Experience

Business and Investment 

  • A large U.S. bank asked us to help it capitalize on the wealth of software talent in India by creating an Indian company to develop financial services software. We negotiated a joint-venture agreement for the bank with a major U.S. computer manufacturer and local Indian partners. The joint venture financed the new software company with a $100 million investment. 
  • Our Malaysian corporate clients include Petronas, the national oil company, which we advise on international legal matters; Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad, a major conglomerate that asked for our help in international business transactions; and Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the national power company, which we advise on international corporate matters. 
  • Among the many U.S. clients we helped launch in China is the world’s largest trade journal publisher. We helped our client structure a range of strategic initiatives, starting with investments in Chinese publishing companies, and building joint ventures and licensing arrangements to publish and distribute Chinese versions of popular Western fashion, business, trade, technical and media journals. In addition, we have represented major investment funds and target companies alike in closing millions of dollars in investments in emerging technologies being developed and marketed in China.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Risk Management 

  • On behalf of a large multinational petroleum company, we prepared a seminal human rights impact assessment on a proposed facility in Papua, Indonesia. The assessment included a risk analysis of issues related to human and labor rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, security, transparency and the environment. The company adopted our recommendations and set the industry standard for best corporate practices.

International Taxation

  • A client asked us to create a new investment vehicle to operate and manage renewable forestry assets in New Zealand. Because the investors were tax-exempt pension funds and university endowments, our international team had to devise a multi-layered structure using offshore vehicles in the British Virgin Islands, which avoided taxation by any country. The result was hundreds of millions of dollars in forestry investments in New Zealand.

MALAYSIA [top]

Representative Experience

  • Foley Hoag's Malaysia team counsels multinationals, based in the United States and in Malaysia, on meeting the many practical and legal challenges of doing business in a global environment.

Our Malaysia team includes lawyers trained in both the U.S. and Malaysia, so we are equipped with a clear understanding of both countries' legal and judicial systems. Combined with the team's diverse experience around the globe, our Malaysia team has helped U.S. companies efficiently address a broad range of Malaysian law issues. As such, we offer valuable assistance to U.S. companies as they explore new business opportunities in Malaysia or carry out their existing Malaysian operations.

Our lawyers have also advised Malaysian-based multinationals and trade organizations in charting a strategic business course and addressing legal issues in the U.S. and elsewhere. As an organization with deep professional and personal ties with Malaysia and a profound understanding of the cultural and political differences between the U.S. and Malaysian business and political environments, we take pride in contributing to the growth and global expansion of Malaysia's indigenous corporations.

In addition to representing Malaysian corporations in litigation before U.S. courts and in international arbitration proceedings, Foley Hoag's lawyers advise Malaysian corporations and trade organizations on issues relating to U.S. law, regulatory requirements and trade policy. Our assistance has also been integral in helping our Malaysian corporate clients achieve their goals in the United States.

NORTH AMERICA [top]

No area of the world better demonstrates the diversity of our international practice and the versatility of our attorneys than North America. We handle in-bound work on behalf of European, Asian or Latin American investors expanding within this hemisphere. We also handle outbound work for North American investors seeking new markets abroad. Our team has the experience and facility with local law and culture to expedite successful business transactions, pursue those who infringe our clients' intellectual property, arbitrate or litigate our clients' disputes, and help them achieve their regulatory and legislative objectives.

Representative Experience 

  • On behalf of a multinational client with a famous consumer trademark and operating and holding companies around the globe, we devised a corporate reorganization strategy to centralize control and enhance the value of its intellectual property, while reducing costs and minimizing taxes. Our strategy included the assignment and licensing of patents, trademarks in more than 100 countries.

Intellectual Property Protection 

  • When a large multinational bank sought to consolidate far-flung data processing operations into a few key jurisdictions, it asked us to help. Could a customer's personal data from Brazil be processed in a centralized data center in Ireland? What consents and approvals were required? How could customers be reassured? After analyzing the privacy and bank secrecy laws in numerous jurisdictions, we identified those that assured the desired protections for our client and its customers.

Business and Investment 

  • An innovative Swedish software company seeking equity investments from U.S. venture capital funds was challenged because many funds have charters prohibiting investment in non-U.S. companies. We solved the problem by helping our client create a corporate headquarters in the United States and convert its Swedish operation into a research, development and intellectual property subsidiary of the U.S. parent. This tax-free reorganization enabled the new U.S. parent company to consummate a significant private placement with U.S. venture capital funds. 
  • Our clients also look to us to help them take advantage of opportunities created by the North American Free Trade Agreement. In one case, we assisted a textile manufacturer by analyzing its overall tariff, procurement and manufacturing costs. We advised it where to purchase raw materials and semi-processed goods, and where to process those materials into finished products.

Arbitration and Litigation 

  • During Liberia’s civil war, the interim government was cut off from its main source of foreign exchange, what was its maritime registration and tax revenue collected in New York banks. Various creditors had attached these accounts, denying Liberia access to the funds. As counsel to the government, our lawyers pursued an aggressive litigation strategy in several separate lawsuits in U.S. courts that defeated the creditors' claims, nullified the attachments, and obtained the funds for the government.

Government Relations and Lobbying 

  • On behalf of Philippine coconut oil exporters, our international team lobbied successfully to defeat measures in the U.S. Congress and the Food and Drug administration that would have restricted our clients' access to the U.S. market. Our team's lobbying for the governments of Uganda, Tanzania, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Guyana, among others, helped increase U.S. economic and security assistance by many millions of dollars.

International Taxation 

  • When our client sought to restructure its worldwide cellular telephone holdings, we devised a cutting-edge tax structure. The structure included a cross-border triangular merger of a publicly traded U.S. cellular telephone company and a European affiliate that transferred direct ownership of the European affiliate's stock from the U.S. company to the latter's stockholders. This unlocked substantial shareholder value without imposing U.S. tax.

AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST [top]

Foley Hoag's investment counseling and dispute-resolution practices are only two of the reasons why corporations, investors, and governments alike seek out our international team. Our success in helping clients with strategic regulatory and legislative change in the United States and around the world has earned us a "go-to" reputation in the international lobbying and government relations arena. Take, for example, our work for the Government of Uganda. While serving as Uganda's lobbyists in Washington, D.C., U.S. investments and economic aid to that country increased significantly. Additionally, former President Bill Clinton, the former first lady, and the former secretary of state made separate visits to Uganda, which became a key U.S. ally in East/Central Africa.

Global Experience and Resources

Whether lobbying or litigating on behalf of Uganda or Nigeria, or structuring a complex joint venture for international clients in Saudi Arabia, we have the experience and the resources to function as effectively in Africa and the Middle East as we do in Boston or Washington.

Representative Experience

Business and Investment 

  • When the African Development Bank (ADB), based in Cote d'Ivoire, sought legal advice about its participation in a new venture capital fund for private investments in Africa, it retained Foley Hoag to structure and negotiate the transaction. The ADB also asked us to advise its board on privatization and law reform in Africa. 
  • As part of our global technology practice, we helped a prominent Saudi businessman and royal-family member structure and negotiate the first international joint venture for telemedicine in the Middle East. As a result, Saudi hospitals will have online access to state-of-the-art medical knowledge and clinical practice in every field, from pediatrics to gerontology.

Arbitration and Litigation 

  • Sued in a U.S. court by a U.S. aviation company alleging wrongful seizure of its aircraft, the Nigerian Airports Authority, an agency of the Government of Nigeria, retained our attorneys as defense counsel. Based on our familiarity with the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, we argued successfully that U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction over the lawsuit, which was dismissed by the trial court. The Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the judgment.

Government Relations and Lobbying

  • The Government of Uganda retained our international team to help it attract new U.S. investments and obtain more U.S. economic aid. We accomplished these lobbying objectives, and helped Uganda become a major U.S. ally in East/Central Africa. Our team helped organize President Yoweri Museveni's U.S. visits, and supported Uganda's successful effort to host former President Bill Clinton on his historic visit to Africa.

Representative Experience

  • Assisted Global Forest Partners LP in structuring and negotiating its management buyout of the world-wide timber advisory business from UBS. 
  • Represented the Government of Uganda before the International Court of Justice in a case brought by Congo. 
  • Provided advice to BP regarding human rights and security practices regarding the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. We also prepared a human rights assessment of BP’s proposed LNG project in Papua, Indonesia. 
  • Assisted Benchmark Electronics, Inc. in connection with the purchase, through a bankruptcy auction, of operating companies in the UK, Thailand and Singapore. 
  • Researched and analyzed, on behalf of The World Bank Group, the corporate social responsibility codes of conduct of over 100 different companies in five different industry sectors operating in Vietnam, El Salvador, the Philippines, and Angola. 
  • Represented the Government of Guyana in an expedited arbitration relating to an investment dispute in connection with the privatization of the country’s electricity sector. 
  • Assisted the Government of Kenya in connection with matters relating to elections, international assistance, counter-terrorism activities, and other issues of interest to the U.S. Government. 
  • Provided Talisman Energy with globalization strategies and counsel regarding corporate social responsibility related to investments and operations in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Links

Currency Converter
http://www.xe.com/ucc/

World Clock
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Lex Mundi
http://www.lexmundi.org/