At least once a week, a client will ask how much time they should put in their request for an extension under Rule 4(m) when serving an overseas defendant. My answer, as I’ve said before: DON’T.
Continue Reading Deadline extensions under Rule 4(m)
Mid-conversation with a client last week, I’d passed the point of exasperation.
Good grief, Dave, we’ve been through this before. Why didn’t you call me BEFORE you filed this thing?!
Continue Reading Trigger time might be too late.
I say all the time that we aren’t building rockets here. But we are building a ship, of sorts, and a leaky ship means that people could not possibly reach North America from Europe. A whole bunch of immigrants from Poland actually did reach North America over the past centuries, and they enriched our culture in a host of different ways– even making Chicago the second-largest Polish city (at least, at one time). With so many family ties to the old country, it’s no surprise that litigation pops up now and again, which means attention must be paid to doing things right.
Serving process in Poland is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention.
Continue Reading How to Serve Process in Poland
Nope. We’re not building rockets here. But we are building a ship of sorts, and a leaky vessel means the cargo may not make it to its destination. Likewise, service of process in foreign countries must be undertaken in a very particular way, lest a judgment be thrown out later (or never won at all). Serving process in Egypt is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention, regardless of which U.S. or Canadian venue is hearing the matter.
Continue Reading How to Serve Process in Egypt (updated 2025)
Another Frequently Asked Question on board this little Faering that is my law firm:
“Does my translation have to be certified?”
By frequently, I mean at least once a week for several years. Most recently, it came in the form of a comment on my old post, Yes, counsel, you do have to translate that thing, but it’s often a question in the mind of the lawyers and their staffs who call or email me. Their Googling has led them to believe it’s a looming issue, and if they don’t have the proper certification, their Hague Service Convention request is doomed.
The short answer: no. But with a trio of caveats.
Continue Reading “Certified” translations… not a real thing. At least, not a real *legal* thing.
[Update 2025: Most CPAP suits nowadays are in MDL status and thus subject to mandatory acceptance by defense counsel. Still, this serves as a primer, and it’s still specifically applicable to state court actions.]
A real world illustration has become fairly frequent of late… but it needs a bit of personal background.Continue Reading CPAP suits and Koninklijke Philips, N.V.
A huge chunk of my practice arises from inquiries lawyers send through this blog– and it stands to reason. Look over to the right and you’ll see our contact information (scroll all the way to the bottom if you’re on a phone or tablet). In a perfect world, we’ll get a chance to talk on the phone, bat around ideas, and collectively grumble about the utter silliness that is the Langdellian method. Inevitably, we ask the following questions, whether by phone or email, because “hey, Aaron, what do you charge to serve a defendant overseas?” just doesn’t give me enough to go on.
Rather than give the trite lawyer answer “it depends,” I ask pretty much the same questions every time. The answers vary, of course, and often lead to more questions and ultimately, the various conclusions that I can offer as recommended next steps.Continue Reading Service abroad: the questions we ask.
An interesting quandary pops up fairly regularly, and I find myself explaining the issue so frequently that it warrants a post. [TL;DR… in the U.S., corporations and other entities created pursuant to statute have registered agents. Elsewhere– and I mean just about everywhere else– the same types of entities only have registered addresses. You don’t have to worry about whether you’ve designated the right individual officer because there isn’t one.]
Continue Reading Registered agents? Nope. Not overseas.
Two or three times a week, I’ll get an email or phone call from a civilian (ie: somebody wise enough to have avoided taking a bar exam) seeking help with a cross-border issue. The majority are pro se spouses (or ex-spouses) who need help serving a divorce action or petition to modify custody or child support. Quite often, it’s a business owner in conflict with an overseas supplier. Occasionally, it’s an injured party seeking damages from a foreign* manufacturer or visiting driver from abroad.
In each and every case, I tell the caller, “have your attorney get in touch with me and I’ll be happy to help.”
Continue Reading Don’t fear cross-border doctrine… just call in some help.
The single, most important piece of information in serving a defendant is his/her/its location. Without the “where,” nothing else matters. Domestic defendants, foreign defendants, U.S. citizens living abroad… everything boils down to location. Now, in most places, just saying “I need to serve a defendant in Japan” is perfectly sufficient. The Hague Service Convention applies. There is but a single way to get the job done. And there’s no question about whether translation is required. Likewise Mexico, Turkey, Korea, and the like. But there are a few places around the globe that require a bit more inquiry to determine options and requirements. This begins a series to look at particular places that aren’t quite so simple, for better or for worse.Continue Reading “Where?” is the most important question: Southeastern China
