(See Part One here and Part Two here. Both discuss parts of FRCP 4, while this one hits on the Hague Service Convention itself.)
One day toward the end of my 2L year, this wisdom came from one of my mentors, a retired Army JAG officer who had more than his share of trial experience in military and civilian courts:
Lawyers are the most helpless race of people on the planet.
It’s official– yesterday we signed on to the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, colloquially known as the Hague Judgments Convention.* Continue Reading The United States Signs the Hague Judgments Convention
An axiom of life was posed to me one day toward the end of my 2L year:
Lawyers are the most helpless race of people on the planet.
An axiom of life was posed to me one day toward the end of my 2L year:
Lawyers are the most helpless race of people on the planet.
[Update, August 2025: Michigan is a special situation, outlined here.]
A while back, I wrote that removing the self-expiration language in a standard bankruptcy summons is imperative when serving overseas defendants in adversary proceedings. I’ve used that post on several occasions to advise litigators in various state venues to do likewise, where the documents contain text like “This summons is effective for service only if served within 30 days after the date it is issued.”
The same basic logic applies:
Continue Reading Modify State Court Summons Deadlines. Just do it.
Portugal is erroneously considered the “little brother” of the bigger country next to it on the Iberian Peninsula. It has its own culture, its own language, and one heck of a lot more progressive recent history than its neighbor-who-shall-not-be-named.* At one time, it was a global colonial power, and it counts some of the 16th century’s greatest explorers among its sons. Pertinent to litigators today, serving process in Portugal 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 Portugal
Because of this blog, I get a significant number of calls and emails from pro se litigants, with varying sorts of questions. Ordinarily, I tell them I can’t advise them directly, but if they’ll have their lawyer call me, I’d be happy to help. Some reply with thanks and a simple “thanks, Aaron, I’ll do that.”
Others reply with an expletive-riddled rant that lawyers are leeches draining the financial life out of hardworking people and why don’t we just all walk off a cliff somewhere. I don’t mind telling them to go away.
But there’s a third type of response that bothers me greatly (saddens me, really) because it’s so unnecessary. One such inquiry pinged in this morning, just as I was brushing my teeth. Continue Reading Take the case– and let us worry about treaty requirements.
[Update: April 22, 2022: Aaaaand then he takes the opposite view, getting it wrong. See my new rant way down at the bottom.] Continue Reading Judge Albright gets the Hague “alternative” question right, and so do others.
(TL;DR– it isn’t used after service abroad, so why pay to translate it?) Continue Reading Remove the second page of your summons (federal).
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 Barbados is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention, regardless of which venue is hearing the matter. Continue Reading How to Serve Process in Barbados
