The most critical question in serving a defendant is “WHERE?” More specifically…
“Where?” is critical… an introduction.
Things take longer overseas. Get used to it.
Last week, I went on a bit of a rant— my thinking was sparked by a highly informative post by Dan Harris at the China Law Blog, in which he rebooted an older column in Four Essential Principles of Emerging Market Success. His original (2004) commentary is even more prescient today as manufacturers and investors shift away from China and seek new opportunities in other emerging economies like Vietnam, Turkey, and Indonesia, just to name a trio. As it turned out, when I read Dan’s update, I had just seen a prospective client walk away from a discussion because he didn’t like the bad news I had to give him. That news went to the heart of Dan’s thoughts on doing business anywhere abroad, namely: Things will be different. Very different.Continue Reading Things take longer overseas. Get used to it.
How to Serve Process in Cyprus (updated 2025)
I say all the time that we aren’t 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. Serving process in Cyprus is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention, regardless of which U.S. or Canadian venue is hearing the matter. Cyprus has a rather complicated history, even in recent decades– and the island has been divided between Greek and Turkish ethnicities in the south and northeast, respectively, since the 1960s and ’70s. Though not as bitter as several decades ago, the division nonetheless remains, and service in the Turkish region may not be as straightforward as in the Greek. The following focuses mainly on the Greek portion of Cyprus, although Greek and Turkish officials may cooperate to effect service on behalf of foreign applicants.Continue Reading How to Serve Process in Cyprus (updated 2025)
Things are different overseas. Get used to it.
With all the America-First hype swirling about the country, it’s never been more important to remind lawyers that things simply don’t work over there the same way they work here. Global commerce isn’t going away, folks. Tariffs notwithstanding, we still need goods from abroad to carry on our daily lives, so it’s still critical to understand the ways in which foreign systems operate. We still have to sell our stuff abroad, or our economy will collapse in short order. We still have to get all the K-Pop we can absorb.Continue Reading Things are different overseas. Get used to it.
Chinese Companies and the FSIA
Big in the news of late: Huawei and the Trump Administration’s ban.
- From CNN: US bans Huawei from selling telecom gear and threatens its supply chain
- CNN again: With a stroke of his pen, Trump worsens Europe’s Huawei dilemma
- CNBC: China says any further action against companies like Huawei could escalate tensions
- The Independent: Trump declares national emergency ‘over Huawei’ amid accusations he is risking ‘devastating’ conflict with Iran
- And a cautionary view from the folks at Bloomberg: Trump Hands Huawei a Stick to Beat the U.S. With
HELMS-BURTON TITLE III EFFECTIVE
The Trump Administration has fully implemented Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows suits to proceed in U.S. courts against companies that do business in Cuba and profit from the use of property expropriated after the 1959 Communist Revolution. Earlier this year, I posted the following illustration of how such a suit plays out:
SCOTUS solidifies FSIA service logic
Last fall, I posted “FSIA Service… it’s really not that difficult” following several very poorly titled articles describing the Trump Administration’s support of a foreign government’s argument in a sovereign immunity case. Sudan had asserted that service on its Embassy in Washington was not appropriate under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and the Department of Justice weighed in on Sudan’s side. The outrage from both left and right irked the hell out of me. But the knee-jerk, non-lawyer reaction from the left– my own people, for crying out loud– really set my teeth on edge. Yesterday, logic won.Continue Reading SCOTUS solidifies FSIA service logic
Translation: it’s not about the defendant!
Here we go again. I’ve written before in this space that, yes, counsel, you do have to translate that thing.
But resistance keeps coming up in the legal community: “oh, come on, the defendant lived in Chicago* for twelve years– the guy speaks English!”
Perhaps, but he lives in Germany now, and you’re serving him there. Germany requires translation into German, without regard to the defendant’s competence in English.
(Yet they continue to push.)Continue Reading Translation: it’s not about the defendant!
How to Serve Process in the British Virgin Islands (updated 2025)
We aren’t building rockets here. But we are building a ship of sorts, and a leaky hull means the cruise ship might not get you to that cabana sheltered rum drink you’ve been craving. Serving process in the British Virgin Islands is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention, regardless of which U.S. venue* is hearing the matter– in exactly the same way as service in England and Wales.Continue Reading How to Serve Process in the British Virgin Islands (updated 2025)
How to Serve Process in The Bahamas (updated 2025)
Continue Reading How to Serve Process in The Bahamas (updated 2025)