Reports the New York Times this morning:
Shell proposes a shift to Britain, dropping ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name.
The Anglo-Dutch energy conglomerate will apparently become just Anglo in the coming months, which begs the question… how do we serve the company when it’s sued in a North American court? Continue Reading Reshuffle pending at Shell? Not a big deal for service.
A couple of years ago, in The Before Times, the leadership of the National Docketing Association asked me to speak at its annual convention in Denver. For those unfamiliar, the NDA is a fantastic coalition of court clerks, attorneys and law firm staffers who, simply put, make sure the trains run on time in the world of litigation.* I’ve had the good fortune to work with many NDA members over the years, and I love Denver anyway, so it was an easy yes answer. Thinking I’d give my stock CLE presentation about the Hague Service Convention and the minefield that lies before lawyers and law firm staffers whose opposing parties happen to be overseas, it would be easy to put an hour-long presentation together.
“No, Aaron, not a CLE session. We want you to do the keynote.”
Um… huh? [I’m eloquent that way.] Continue Reading The game starts with a kickoff.
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)
My inbox frequently pings with an important query: Continue Reading Finding foreign counsel
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.
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.
