Criteria for selecting lawyers abroad via the internet
Going abroad is often difficult, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises: selection methods for legal advisors that work well domestically rarely apply abroad, and recommendations and first-hand accounts are hard to come by. Different legal systems and cultural particularities create additional uncertainty, while planned investments leave little room for experimentation. Assessing attorneys abroad is also difficult for private individuals, since an assessment can often only be made on the basis of the information given on the attorney’s website.
Criteria for Selecting Attorneys Abroad
A personal visit to the firm gives the best indication of whether it delivers on its promises; however, engagements abroad are frequently awarded without personal contact. In such cases, the verifiability of the information provided on the firm’s website becomes especially important, in order to assess whether the qualifications, knowledge, practical experience, and other information stated there actually hold true. Objectively verifiable criteria for assessing a cross-border firm can include the following:
- Duration of the attorney’s practice, or the existence of the law firm
- Experience of the staff, their qualifications and admissions
- International experience and time spent abroad by the firm’s staff
- Scope of the advisory services offered, specialist presentations, areas of focus
- Specialization and orientation of the firm toward cross-border legal issues
- Verifiable references, possibly letters of recommendation
- Verifiability of the information given on the website
- Languages of communication
- Certification to ISO standards
- Legal publications (specialist books, journals, etc.)
- Overall impression and professionalism on first contact
- Response times to initial inquiries
- Currency of the information on the website
- Membership in specialist professional organizations