International Business Law - Conkle, Ellis, Fergus, & MacDowell

Globalization of commerce has enabled even small companies to be international players. Federal, state, and even local governments encourage international trade. The State of Ohio, for example, actively promotes exports and investments through numerous foreign offices, appearances at foreign trade fairs, and brochures about Ohio in many languages. The United States is full of foreign-owned companies, and thousands of American companies have overseas branches, affiliates, and subsidiaries.

Foreign business owners doing business in the U.S., as well as American businesses doing business abroad, often have unfounded expectations about the “other side’s” business culture and legal system. Payment terms, inspection of goods, consumer issues, security interests, remedies for breach, tort liability, indemnification clauses, exclusivity provisions, and employment agreements (to name a few issues) are viewed substantially differently in the United States as compared to many other countries. The distinction between common law and civil law may be fading somewhat, but the way business is done -- and the way law is practiced – differs greatly in the U.S. and abroad. Our attorneys are well-versed in those differences and we are happy to make the “other side’s” legal system much less foreign for our clients. For decades our attorneys have worked with American clientele doing business abroad as well as foreign clientele; we currently have the ability to serve foreign clients in German and Russian.