Whether you are faced with an adverse claim or contemplating taking legal action, a good business litigator will put your business objectives first. In most cases, deciding on whether and how to deal with a claim should be made only after a careful cost-benefit analysis, weighing the costs and chances of success against the benefits conferred by victory. When faced with an international dispute, however, the litigator’s job is more complex, as properly navigating such a dispute requires strong knowledge of a branch of law known as Private International Law, which addresses three main questions: which country has jurisdiction, whose set of laws applies, and will a foreign jurisdiction recognize a locally obtained judgement? It is common for international contracts to contain a clause that grants jurisdiction to the courts of the jurisdiction of one of the parties or of a neutral forum, Also, it is quite possible that the parties have agreed to use arbitration to settle their differences. Often, either not much thought has gone into choice-of-law and choice-of-court clauses or they were imposed by the stronger party. Before embarking on potentially long and costly jurisdiction, it is therefore worthwhile assessing the true impact of their wording; for example, the jurisdiction conferred by a choice-of-court clause may not be exclusive, which would allow a party to take action locally notwithstanding an apparent stipulation to the contrary.
Whether you are a Canadian business or individual facing a claim by a foreign party or looking to bring a claim against a foreign party, or whether you are seeking counsel to support you with a mediation or an arbitration, HazloLaw – Business Lawyers can help.