The Challenges of Litigating Across Jurisdictions
Modern litigation may involve parties or witnesses in different states or even countries. As business becomes more globalized, so do business disputes. Even in cases where there is no obvious foreign connection, you may have employees of an adversary or other witnesses who live abroad, complicating the litigation process. Making sure your case is brought in the right court in the correct jurisdiction is only the first of many questions your attorneys need to get right in order to achieve a successful outcome. Failing to bring your lawsuit in the correct forum can result in its dismissal. Alternatively, you may find yourself sued in a foreign jurisdiction where litigation will be inconvenient, costly, and may not provide you with the same due process rights you would enjoy in American courts. You need capable and experienced attorneys to make sure your suit ends up in a court that is not only a convenient forum for litigation, but one that will ensure a fair process.
Even if you find yourself in the right court, you may still face challenges in agreeing on which country or state’s laws should govern a cross-border dispute. Determining which jurisdiction’s laws will govern your case is essential to understanding what claims and defenses the parties will be able to bring. As a result, a court’s decision on which jurisdiction’s law to apply can have an extraordinary impact on whether your case will be successful. Choice of law questions can be among the most complex ones litigators have to answer.
Beyond this choice of law analysis, your attorneys will need to create a discovery strategy that accounts for the challenges of obtaining testimony and documents from out of state. Different states have different rules about everything from how you serve a subpoena to what sort of evidence you can obtain through document requests, to the ground rules for a deposition. If you are trying to litigate across national boundaries, the issue become even more complex. Treaties like the Hague Evidence Convention have helped streamline the process among countries that have signed the agreements, but in others places, there remain significant hurdles to even the most basic discovery tasks. And once you obtain the evidence, you have to make sure it will be admissible in court.
The costs of navigating these complexities can add up quickly: local counsel, notaries, and translations of foreign documents. The time and expense associated with out of jurisdiction discovery will only grow if your attorney is unfamiliar with the intricacies of cross-border litigation. Additionally, with international discovery, you often only have one opportunity to get the information you need to obtain from foreign witnesses. If you fail to get the information you need the first time, it can be much more difficult—or even impossible—to seek additional discovery. Ensuring all of the legal formalities are properly observed in both the foreign jurisdiction and where the lawsuit is taking place is essential to ensuring your obtain the evidence you need in a timely fashion and without unnecessary costs.
Our attorneys have litigated in jurisdictions across the country and have handled complex cases crossing state and national boundaries. We leverage our strong networks around the country and the world to handle national and even complicated transnational issues seamlessly. We begin by developing a trial strategy that considers the cross-border dimensions from the outset, recognizing how they can shape a litigation. We then put together a discovery plan that maximizes our ability to obtain the most critical information in the most streamlined possible method. Because we conduct discovery with an eye toward preparing our trial strategy, we do not waste time or resources seeking tangential or insignificant information. No matter how complex your case or how global the implications, we will build a litigation strategy to help you achieve the best possible result.
Bring us your toughest case. We’ll get the job done.