International Business

Overview

Foreign companies coming to the United States routinely require assistance in many legal areas, and Hall Booth Smith’s International Business service area offers experienced counsel for global corporations of all sizes, regardless of corporate headquarter location. This is true for companies wishing to have their own legal presence in the U.S. as well as foreign companies engaging in business and trade with partners outside of the U.S. We are also able to assist clients based in the United States in legal matters involving the laws of foreign countries, either through our own attorneys who include foreign nationals or with the help of colleagues in other countries with whom we network.

The attorneys in our International Business group have been working with international clients and U.S. based companies for many years. Our work with international clients includes structuring legal entities for start-up operations as well as routinely advising companies with established operations in the United States, as we do for any other domestic client. We focus on the needs of our clients throughout the Southeastern region, yet we serve clients throughout the United States and internationally, including Germany, Brazil, Hungary, Türkiye, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the country of Georgia, and the Czech Republic.

Our broad network includes contacts with national and international lawyers and other professionals to best serve our clients’ unique needs. Our attorneys work closely with a number of bi-national and local chambers of industry and commerce allowing us to stay on top of the pulse of what is happening within the international and local business community.

Our attorneys are involved in various organizations including:

• Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce
• Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce for the Southeast
• Georgia Economic Developers Association
• Georgia Export Council
• German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeastern U.S.
• Honorary Consul for the country of Georgia
• Honorary Consul General and Foreign Economic Counselor for Hungary
• Netherlands-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeastern United States
• World Trade Center Atlanta

Services

Many international companies are leveraging the global economy to expand their overseas presence, grow U.S. based facilities and subsidiaries, and capitalize on trade opportunities. Likewise, many companies based in Georgia and other states are looking abroad for expansion and investment.

The focus of the attorneys and staff of our International Business service is in the following areas:

• Construction and Transportation
• Contracts
• Corporate
• Dual Nationality Questions
• Economic Sanctions and Export Controls
• Employment and Operational Issues
• Estate Matters Involving Foreign Individuals or Another Country
• Immigration
• Intellectual Property
• International Trade
• Litigation and Arbitration
  • M&A and Other Corporate Transactions
  • Naturalization
  • Non-Immigrant and Immigrant Visas
• Products Liability
  • Structuring and Implementing U.S. Operations

Outcomes

With professional integrity and skill, HBS has successfully served many foreign entities doing business in the United States in matters including the following:

• Representing German and other foreign clients in setting up their U.S. operations
• Structuring U.S. subsidiaries of foreign parent business entities
• Representing foreign clients on an on-going basis with respect to their U.S. operations, including general corporate matters, immigration, employment, and litigation
• Assisting foreign-owned companies in their acquisition of companies based in the United States
• Negotiating tax incentives from state and local governments
• Representation in court or other forums or before government agencies