A “global marketplace” is far more the norm than the exception in today’s business world. Organizations must understand, respect and monitor business across all nations to reap the full benefits of success nationally or abroad. Kilpatrick Townsend provides services for large multinationals as well as small and medium-sized companies across all industries involved in international trade, investment, manufacturing and finance.

These services relate not only to mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, but also to international financing and securities offerings; cross-border technology transfers; cross-border sales of goods; international franchise, distributorship and sales-representative arrangements; employment; and structuring and conducting multinational operations.

We also represent clients involved in international trade investment and finance in matters that include export licensing, customs and trade regulations. Firm attorneys handle regulatory and legislative aspects, including U.S. Customs, export licensing, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and escape-clause matters. Our international offices assist clients with cross-border lending, Eurodollar equity and debt financing, interest rate and currency exchange transactions, and cross-border trade transactions and acquisitions.

In addition, we offer international arbitration services to U.S. and non-U.S. clients in international contract disputes involving distributor terminations, sales of goods, partnerships, joint ventures and development activities.

Asia Business Services

Our Asia Business Services team is a multidisciplinary group of attorneys with decades of experience working with companies contemplating expansion into Asian markets and includes experienced lawyers from the following practice areas and industries:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Business and Finance
• Contracts and Commercial Agreements
• Intellectual Property
• Outsourcing
• Tax
• Technology

The legal, linguistic and cultural diversity of this team allows our attorneys to assist clients in both the planning and execution stages. For clients planning an initiative to enter the business market in Asia, our team regularly advises on the following:

• Navigating international tax planning issues – we advise on structures to minimize U.S. and in-country taxes, including using offshore entities to defer U.S. taxes.
• Choosing the appropriate local presence – we advise on the differences between representative offices, wholly-owned international enterprises, joint ventures and other structures, and we advise on how to select the appropriate vehicle for the particular project.
• Choosing the “right” relationship with local partners – we help our clients understand the differences between the various ways to structure local relationships through contractual relationships, joint ventures or other strategic alliances.
• Protecting intellectual property rights – a critical issue when expanding in Asia, we regularly advise clients in protecting and enforcing their intellectual property rights.
• Effectively using local economic incentives – we help our clients understand incentives that exist in Asia, such as free trade zones, tax holidays and bonded warehouses, and how business can effectively use these benefits in connection with strategy.
• Managing technology relationships – for clients entering into technology alliances or other technology-intensive relationships in Asia, we advise on ways to clearly capture the operational requirements of the relationship while providing protection from liability and fostering contract compliance by aligning the economic levers between the parties.
• Understanding and incorporating timing considerations into your planning – in China for example, routine tasks, such as establishing a subsidiary, may take months whereas in the U.S. this process only takes a few days. We advise clients on incorporating local timing issues into your project planning and management.

Latin America Business Services

Kilpatrick Townsend’s Latin American team is an interdisciplinary group comprised of experienced attorneys in the areas of international law, tax, mergers and acquisitions, securities, finance, and labor and employment. Firm attorneys focus both on the representation of clients involved in business within Latin American countries, and on the representation of Latin American clients involved in business within the U.S. or with U.S. companies.

Recognizing that Latin America represents one of the largest developing markets in the world, attorneys on our Latin American team help clients explore emerging opportunities in that market. The team includes Latin American attorneys who are fluent in both English and Spanish and who have the cultural knowledge and skills necessary to represent client's interests effectively in Latin America.

Well-versed in local business environments and cultures, members of the team have successfully assisted clients in their expansion into the region and in the evaluation and implementation of projects in a variety of manufacturing and service industries. Team attorneys also have a wide network of relationships throughout the region and often provide additional value to clients by introducing them to business and political leaders in many countries.

Assistance is provided to both U.S. and non-U.S. clients involved in multijurisdictional transactions, including:

• Establishment, expansion and conduct of Latin American operations
• Cross-border acquisitions
• Structuring and representation of joint ventures
• Lending and finance
• Structuring of franchising, distributorship, sales-representative and other types of marketing arrangements throughout the region
• Tax planning
• Negotiation and structuring of technology transfers, both into and out of Latin America
• Commercial financings, including EXIM Bonds and OPIC loans, guarantees and insurance
• Debt and equity offerings
• Interest-rate and currency-exchange transactions
• Litigation and arbitration
• Multinational patent and trademark registration and protection
• Employment issues involving personnel in Latin American countries, including issues relating to employment agreements, consulting agreements, terminations and severance payments

Members of the team are active in various local and international chambers of commerce devoted to increasing worldwide trade and business opportunities and maintain continual contact with consular and trade-promotion representatives from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama, among others.