International business : What are the key considerations in cross-border contracts, international transactions and disputes with foreign business partners?

Although there is an opportunity to legally optimize every form of international business activity, the cross-border context undoubtedly entails numerous legal risks. These risks include the application of foreign legal provisions, cross-border debt collection and enforcement, disputes with foreign courts and administrative authorities, international insolvency proceedings, language barriers, misinterpretation of local customs, currency fluctuations, local financial or political crises, uncertainties in international tax and social security regulations, and cultural differences in contract negotiations, court proceedings, and arbitration.

For a company or group of companies to operate internationally, a dual legal strategy is essential. First, it is important to optimize the legal framework for cross-border operations. On the other hand, forward-looking and preventive legal measures must effectively avoid the numerous pitfalls, risks, and uncertainties of any international business activity.

Our lawyers specializing in international, commercial and trade law help companies implement this dual legal strategy in France, Germany, and other countries. We efficiently and successfully collaborate with our foreign colleagues from our a-Global partner network in all areas of cross-border commercial law.

We are your reliable partner for international legal optimization – both within and outside of contract management with foreign business partners :

International legal optimization in the context of contract management with foreign business partners

• Import / Export : Supply chain management, drafting specific export and import terms and conditions for international trade, correctly applying Incoterms, sales tax and customs formalities
• Cross-border distribution : Optimize distribution channels through cross-border distributor, franchise, and commercial agency agreements
• International contracts : Negotiation and drafting of contracts with foreign business partners, legal optimization of contracts through the use of specific international trade clauses, strategic advice on choice of law and drafting of alternative dispute resolution clauses (e.g., mediation, arbitration), determination of competent state courts
• Employee mobility : Cross-border employment contracts, cross-border exercise of bilateral or multilateral employment relationships with regard to the implications under labor, tax, and social security law, secondment abroad, legal, tax, and social security framework for cross-border commuters, expatriation procedures, cross-border temporary work, and international temporary employment
• Financing and collateral : Drafting contracts for corporate financing, international factoring, use of standard bank financing agreements and guarantees
• Company acquisitions and cross-border mergers (M&A) : Legal structuring and optimization of cross-border transactions, support for international company acquisitions and mergers in the form of share deals and asset deals, international relocation of registered seats

International legal optimization outside of contract management with foreign business partners

• Liability outside contractual relationships : Legal protection for products and services, prevention strategies for defective products and cybercrime
• Compliance in an international context : Data protection, foreign compliance requirements, and international standards for combating corruption and money laundering, etc.
• Competition and antitrust law : National and European antitrust regulations, unlawful restrictions on competition and anti-competitive agreements
• Litigation and arbitration : Court proceedings before German, French, and foreign courts, alternative dispute resolution (mediation), international arbitration (institutional and ad hoc), cross-border debt collection, European order for payment procedures, and enforcement
• Insolvency : Securing and filing claims in foreign insolvency proceedings, legal preparation and implementation of a business closure, support in filing for insolvency proceedings in the event of insolvency or over-indebtedness of a foreign subsidiary
• Inheritance cases in an international context : Structuring and forward planning of cross-border inheritance law issues