(Author’s Note: this post was held for publication in honor of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who passed on Friday at the age of 93.)
Until this fall, serving process in the tiny-but-thriving nation of Singapore entailed a similar approach to serving in another U.S. state or Canadian province. That is, as a former British colony
Once or twice a month, a client will call or email me expressing incredulous frustration that it takes Swiss or French or German authorities two or three months to return a proof of service following a Hague Service Convention request. Or even worse, that it takes Mexican or Chinese or Indian authorities a year or
Read that to yourself again, but this time, do it in the accent of General Alexei Anatoly Gogol.*
Send your request in duplicate to the Central Authority.
No, this is not a command from a Soviet spy chief. It’s just what we need to do when submitting a Request for service pursuant to Article 5 of the Hague Service Convention, instruction taken quite literally from Article 3. The term Central Authority merely refers to the agency (or agencies) designated by member countries to receive those requests. It shouldn’t conjure images of some nefarious Cold War-era black ops outfit behind the Iron Curtain, like the Stasi or KGB. In just about all countries, the designated Central Authority is a regular government agency, usually a court or counterpart to the U.S. Departments of State or Justice.Continue Reading What is a Central Authority?
Everything.
That’s it.
No, really.
Translate everything. I’m serious.Continue Reading What does the Hague Service Convention require me to translate?
When I send a Certificate* to a client so s/he can prove up service pursuant to the Hague Service Convention, I usually include a link to my earlier post, The Hague Certificate– all the proof you need. Sometimes, when the Certificate is generated by the foreign government on its own blank, rather than the
Every once in a while, long after a Hague Service Request has been submitted to a foreign Central Authority, the foreign defendant will agree to waive service. That is always good news, because it means everybody is more likely to play well in the sandbox. When it happens, my clients will email me and say
No exaggeration here– be afraid. Be very afraid.
… you simply cannot listen to overseas counsel unless they understand the nuances of the Hague Service Convention as it as it applies in North America.
Continue Reading Be wary of foreign counsel in Hague Service Requests
Say what you will about law professors– the best ones always hammer on the most important mantras that soon-to-be lawyers must internalize even before the bar exam.
But the biggest one:
Continue Reading Always take screenshots of address sources. Always, always, always.
Every once in a while, the Venn Diagram of Treaties overlaps a bit. In my line of work, it’s usually the interplay of various Hague Conventions– noting that there is no such thing as “The” Hague Convention— which pertain mostly to private international law. Lots of civil stuff in play with these, the most frequently used examples:
There is also no such thing as “The” Montréal Convention– there are more than just one– but in common parlance in the litigation world, there’s little doubt which is in play.
Continue Reading The Montréal Convention and Hague Service
No. No, no no… NO.
Stop believing key word results without thinking things through. Just stop it.
If you Google “Process Server Germany” a whole bunch of hits come back that would lead you to believe that you can simply hire a guy in Frankfurt or Munich or Berlin to walk up to a defendant
