Many companies are outsourcing such functions as information technology, accounting, customer service, and telecommunications. Additionally, many of them are contracting with foreign vendors to provide such services. This article explains the reasons for this phenomenon, examines the trends in global outsourcing, and sets forth factors that will help you to determine whether such outsourcing is right for your company. You will learn how to develop a strategy that will enable you to identify the vendor and outsourcing destination most appropriate for your needs and to sidestep the minefields involved in outsourcing globally.
The following article is a primer for the U.S.-trained human resources manager tasked with handling a pan-European reduction in force ("RIF") for an American company. It sets out the key elements of a RIF plan, concisely overviews the European legal landscape, addresses seven key issues concerning collective dismissals in six European countries, and provides country-by-country guidance on those issues. If, for example, you do not want one of your company's directors to land in a French jail because you did not follow the correct procedures concerning the collective dismissal of your company's Avignon-based workers, then this article is for you. The article is certainly not a substitute for personal advice from in-house counsel geared to the particular matter at hand, but should help lay the groundwork for an effective RIF plan.
This article describes the problems that the European Commission's approach to the attorney-client privilege creates and what counsel should do to ameliorate those problems.
Transborder disputes present special management challenges to in-house counsel because strategies and outcomes depend as much on culture as on legal systems. Your domestic case management system may not identify and cope with all of the cultural differences, and your outside counsel may not have cross-border experience to fill the gaps. This article presents a sampler of types of issues by which you can assess your needs in the complex transborder environment, offers a broad range of relevant and informative questions, illustrated with examples from the authorsÕ experience, and suggests how you can expand the transnational resources of your team.
This article gives you an overview of EU data protection law, explains why U.S. in-house counsel should be concerned about EU data protection laws, shows you a roadmap to compliance, and gives you a workplan template for achieving and maintaining compliance.
Linking your corporate offices into a single intranet, while efficient, may expose your company to civil or criminal liability in other countries. Here's how to protect your company from these risks.
Nearly every company has a website and uses the internet as a means for marketing and selling its products and services. Here's a plan for protecting your company's trademarks and domain names in cyberspace.
Protect your clients’ interests in horizontal and vertical agreements under the new EU competition law.
This article explains the intricacies of doing business in Europe, especially in the European Union, and the effects of the latest directives regarding ecommerce. The list of handy websites will help you research whatever question you’re facing at the moment regarding doing business in Europe electronically.
Economic globalization means that in-house lawyers who have been focusing on only domestic issues must now also become versed in foreign and transnational aspects of their particular subject-matter expertise. Learn what to do to get up to speed in international legal matters, including how to deal with the differences between common law and civil law.