International

Venable has grown and prospered for over 120 years because our lawyers have maintained a steadfast focus on the ever-evolving needs of our clients. As some clients have looked to markets beyond the United States and others have sought to do business here, our lawyers and professionals have provided important counsel to assist them in achieving their international objectives.

We Offer the Best of Both Worlds

We have taken a two-pronged approach to building our global reach, one which delivers superior value, and maximizes the quality lawyering and client service that our clients expect. In many cases, we provide counsel directly to U.S. and foreign-based companies, institutions and individuals. We frequently deliver value to our clients in a number of very specialized areas where international recognition and scope are imperative. Examples include FCPA; Tax; Privacy, Data Protection, and Internet; International Trade; Intellectual Property; Advertising, Marketing, and New Media. In other cases, we work with our clients to identify the best counsel from the extensive network of relationships that we have developed over many years.

Our model truly provides our clients with the best of both worlds—assurance that they've engaged just the right legal practitioner for the task at hand, and vigilant oversight and coordination provided by their trusted Venable Relationship Partner.

We Tailor Solutions to Your Goals and Preferences

From setting up subsidiaries and joint ventures around the globe to protecting intellectual property rights in multiple foreign jurisdictions, from advising foreign companies on U.S. and foreign tax issues related to mergers and acquisitions, to representing foreign governments in highly-sensitive investigations, our attorneys serve our client's cross-border needs. Among the clients we've helped with their international needs are Marriott International; Panasonic; GE Healthcare; Agence France Presse; BIPI Pharmaceuticals; Danske Bank A/S; Celsion Corporation; Japan Tobacco International; Guthy-Renker; Taro Pharmaceuticals; Sodexo; Pharmaxis, Ltd.; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Westmoreland Coal; AAF-McQuay, Inc.

We Assist a Wide Variety of U.S.-Based Clients with Their International Needs

Venable attorneys are consistently recognized by clients for their deep knowledge and understanding of the law, as well as the intricacies of their businesses and industries. Being well grounded in our clients' business contexts enables us to deliver practical business solutions, regardless of geography. Where a matter requires experience in local law, we help our clients avail themselves of just the right skills to meet the need.

If a client simply wants us to help them identify quality counsel in a foreign market, we can assist them by leveraging our extensive network of relationships as well as region and country knowledge possessed by our own attorneys. In other instances, the best way to deliver quality lawyering and service to our clients is through collaboration and coordination with local foreign counsel. Regardless of the scenario, Venable is committed to making certain that clients obtain precisely what they need.

We're continuously expanding the network of foreign firms with whom we work and are actively developing additional, more formalized and structured working relationships with a very select number of law firms around the world—firms whose cultures, values, operating principles, areas of practice, and quality standards align well with our own.

An important aspect of our firm's global reach is the thought leadership we demonstrate. A large number of our attorneys play or have played senior leadership roles in significant international legal and industry organizations, including International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC); International Trademark Association (INTA); the American Bar Association's Task Force on "Gatekeeper" Regulations; and the Anglo-American Real Property Institute. In addition, our attorneys regularly publish papers and articles in international publications and journals and speak on topics of global interest at conferences around the world.

We Also Assist Foreign-Based Clients With Issues and Complexities Arising From Conducting Business in the U.S.

We enable foreign-based companies to grow by helping them develop successful businesses and relationships in the United States. Venable's deep, first-hand experience with the critical aspects of conducting business in the regulatory environment of the United States is of growing interest to foreign companies seeking to do business in the U.S. market. Our clients also derive substantial benefit from the fact that our Washington base of operations affords us, and them, convenient access to important law and rule-making bodies, as well as resources such as the U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Trade Representative, as well as embassy officials who can greatly assist in navigating the laws/rules and regulations of their countries' markets.

We're Committed

We're continuously expanding the network of foreign firms with whom we work and are actively developing additional, more formalized and structured working relationships with a very select number of law firms around the world — firms whose cultures, values, operating principles, areas of practice and quality standards align well with our own.

An important aspect of our firm's global reach is the thought leadership we demonstrate. A large number of our attorneys play or have played senior leadership roles in significant international legal and industry organizations, including: International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC); International Trademark Association (INTA); the American Bar Association's Task Force on "Gatekeeper" Regulations; and the Anglo-American Real Property Institute. In addition, our attorneys regularly publish papers and articles in international publications and journals and speak on topics of global interest at conferences around the world.

Industry Focus

  • Corporate/Transactional
  • Government Affairs/Regulatory
  • Litigation
  • Intellectual Property

Experience
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Among the examples of our work for U.S.-based companies:

  • Venable served as lead counsel to Marriott International and Ritz-Carlton on luxury hotel and resort development projects in Ireland, Brazil, Peru, Grand Cayman, Costa Rica, the Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, and the Bahamas. These projects typically have a project cost ranging from $400 million to more than $1 billion.
  • We directed a worldwide regulatory compliance effort for an international manufacturing company. This included high-level corporate governance issues, international document discovery and review, preparing and training to internal compliance standards covering scores of EU and U.S. laws and regulations, advising on congressional and governmental inquiries concerning the operations of the company, and planning for potential securities and products liability litigation.
  • Venable represents The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for a wide variety of patent prosecution matters, including extensive global patent portfolios for UCLA that are licensed to companies for commercialization.
  • Venable represents Guthy-Renker LLC in significant work involving setting up overseas subsidiaries and joint ventures with foreign companies all over the world (including Japan, India, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Russia, Cyprus, Mexico, and Canada). Venable also coordinates with overseas counsel on their behalf.
  • Along with co-counsel, Venable represents several Taiwanese semiconductor clients in an investigation involving patents relating to certain small format ball grid array (BGA) packages that incorporate dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.
  • We represented the owners of a privately held natural resources company in its sale to a foreign purchaser for over $1 billion. Part of Venable's representation included intense simultaneous negotiation of the terms of purchase agreements with several potential bidders in an auction process managed by an internationally recognized investment bank, negotiation of final documentation with the winning bidder, and closing the transaction. In addition to corporate lawyers, Venable provided assistance on antitrust, employment, real estate, tax, and regulatory matters, and was responsible for the coordination and oversight of the work of foreign and local counsel.
  • Venable represented AAF-McQuay Inc., a global manufacturer and distributor of commercial air conditioning and air filtration products and systems, in connection with establishment of a Dutch B.V. holding company structure.
  • Venable represented SafeNet, an information security company (NASDAQ: SFNT), in acquiring companies located in Finland and the Netherlands, and a company headquartered in California with operations in India, the European Union, and Asia, with assistance from foreign local counsel.
  • Venable negotiated a development agreement between Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ: CLSN) and Philips Electronics, a large Dutch conglomerate, to combine Philips' heat drug delivery device with Celsion's liposomal-based oncology drug. We also negotiated a complex license, clinical research, product development, distribution, and commercialization agreement between Celsion and Yakult, a large Japanese consumer products company, involving potential royalty payment streams in excess of $75 million.

Among the examples of our work for foreign-based companies:

  • We counseled Sodexo, a large French facility services company, with respect to U.S. legal and industrial security requirements relating to performance of U.S. classified contracts and potential acquisition of U.S. companies.
  • Venable advised Danske Bank A/S, Denmark's largest bank, with respect to the U.S. tax implications of its purchase of a pool of U.S. commercial and residential mortgage loans from Lehman Brothers, foreclosure on various mortgaged properties and subsequent sale of such properties. Venable assisted Danske in structuring its transactions in a manner that minimized its exposure to U.S. income taxation, avoiding a U.S. "permanent establishment" under the U.S.-Denmark Tax Treaty and successfully navigating some very complex FIRPTA withholding tax issues.
  • Venable's antitrust attorneys successfully defended a multinational pharmaceutical company in a complex FTC investigation of alleged antitrust violations related to settlement of patent litigation involving branded and generic pharmaceuticals.
  • Venable represented a major international corporation in a grand jury investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division of alleged price fixing in the tobacco industry. The investigation of our client was closed without any government action.
  • We advise ING Direct on U.S. banking laws, employment laws, contract laws, and issues arising from its relationship with its Netherlands-based bank holding company.
  • Venable represents a large generic drug manufacturer based overseas with a U.S. manufacturing and market presence, in wide-ranging criminal and civil investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, coupled with administrative enforcement actions by the Food and Drug Administration.
  • We represented a U.S.–Australian joint venture development company in connection with the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of multiple transactions resulting in the acquisition of a majority interest in a liquefied natural gas receiving, storage, and gasification terminal located on the Texas Gulf Coast, which, by virtue of substantial indirect foreign ownership of U.S. infrastructure, required the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
  • Venable has counseled and formulated strategies for trade and transportation data companies with security issues before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), World Customs Organization (WCO), and H.M. Revenue and Customs (UK).
  • We provided ongoing advice for FCPA concerns to a large multinational petroleum and petrochemicals company on arrangements with global suppliers and sourcing agents, and reviewed and enhanced policies and procedures for contractual agreements for import and export controls compliance and FCPA concerns.
  • In an International Trade Commission lawsuit involving two patents related to smallpox vaccines, we represented a biotechnology company and reached a favorable federal court decision rejecting a claim of theft of trade secrets and misappropriation, leading to a global resolution of the dispute.