Practice Areas & Industries: Akerman Senterfitt

Practice/Industry Group Overview

As Florida's role in international trade and finance expands, Akerman Senterfitt has developed a multilingual, multicultural, cross-disciplinary International Practice. Our goal is to assist U.S. clients to grow their international business activities and to assist foreign clients to establish businesses and flourish in the United States. The International Practice Group includes professionals from all our offices throughout the State and from every major practice group including corporate/securities, banking, tax, immigration, admiralty, aviation, intellectual property, real estate, and litigation.

Services Available

We represent U.S. and foreign corporations and individual residents of Latin America and the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. We assist our clients with mergers and acquisitions, general corporate counseling, strategic planning, tax planning, regulatory compliance, financing and capital raising, government relations, employment, trade, and immigration matters. We structure inbound and outbound investments and develop regulatory and tax strategies for portfolio and passive investments. We also handle international civil and criminal litigation procedures, such as service of process and discovery under the Hague Conventions, and alternative dispute resolution, including international arbitration and mediation both in the United States and abroad.

To assist in local law and due diligence issues, we complement our international services to foreign clients by relying on skilled lawyers and reputed law firms in relevant jurisdictions. We understand the importance of sensitivity to other legal systems and cultures. Consequently, we have invested time and resources in developing an extensive global network of international law firms and belong to international legal networks. In addition, our International Practice Group attorneys belong to and have served in leadership roles in the Inter-American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and other foreign jurisdiction bar associations. Our international associate program periodically brings attorneys from leading law firms in Latin America and Europe to our firm for six to twelve-month internships.

Within our International Practice there are three main areas on which we focus: Latin America, Europe, and Immigration.

Akerman Senterfitt's lawyers have been involved in Latin America for over 50 years. Our Latin American Practice includes lawyers based in Florida who are licensed to practice in Brazil, and Florida - licensed attorneys who are Latin American nationals familiar with the various local business cultures, all of whom are bilingual. These attorneys have experience in the areas of international commercial transactions including foreign investment, mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, cross-border tender offers, banking, tax, project finance, immigration, international trade, and litigation. The focus of the practice is to assist companies as well as lending institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, and financial advisers in financing or strategic transactions. The industries we have served include pharmaceutical, entertainment, telecommunications, automotive, aviation, oil and gas, banking and finance, e-commerce, and consumer products and services.

As the importance of the traditional trade relationship between the U.S. and Brazil evolved, we created the Brazil Legal Team, a division of the International Practice Group dedicated to assisting U.S. investment in Brazil, as well as assisting Brazilian businesses in the U.S. The Brazil Legal Team is one of the largest groups of Brazilian legal professionals in the U.S. and is composed of a multidisciplinary group of Brazilian attorneys and paralegals with extensive experience in Brazilian corporate matters, joint ventures, banking, tax planning, licensing and distribution, telecommunications, real estate, resort and hotel development, and franchising.

These Brazilian attorneys are adept at reconciling regulations and procedures to facilitate cross-border transactions with Brazil - a challenge that often requires innovative solutions. They also have extensive experience in dealing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory agencies, to negotiate solutions that accommodate differences in timetables, standards, and market practices in foreign jurisdictions.

A significant component of our International Practice is our commitment to the representation of European concerns. Whether the matter involves a European company seeking to invest for the first time or to expand its existing U.S. interests, or a U.S. multinational looking to acquire a European company, enter into a business relationship, or establish a joint venture, our attorneys can assist with the regulatory, financial, and business aspects of a Trans-Atlantic transaction. Lawyers in our European practice speak Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Russian.

Expeditious, problem-free, cost-effective international assignments are critically important to companies using the services of highly specialized foreign personnel. Our immigration team has devoted years of effort and extensive resources to developing systems specifically designed to ensure that international personnel transfers to and from locations throughout the United States are prompt, smooth, and cost-effective. Comprised of a team of lawyers from corporate, employment, and international law backgrounds, the immigration team represents the interests of multinational, foreign, and domestic companies and individual business persons before the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Consulates around the world.

Clients:
Global Crossing Ltd. , Union Planters Bank, Bush Industries, Inc. , British Gas -, Bovis, Inc. , Medtronic Inc., UniDyn, Mapfre Insurance Group , Dow Chemical - Latin American Division., Counsel to Thales TRC, Inc., a United States subsidiary of a French international defense and commercial electronics company, IVAX Corporation, CBS Telenoticas, Atento Brasil S.A, Telefonica S. A, Credit Suisse (Bahamas) Ltd. , Banco Primus, Banco MultiStock, Gupo Peixoto de Castro, Gazeta Mercantil, Construtora Norberto Odebrecht, Petrobras Distribuidora, Invixx Capital, Banco Pebb, Embraer Aircraft Corporation, Huizenga Holdings, Inc., Actium Beteiligungs AG, Apax Partners & Co., Deutsche Bank AG, Deutsche Frankonia AG, Dorsch Consulting Gmbh, Lineas Aereas de Espaņa, S.A., Abdulaziz & Mohamed A. Aljomaih Co. , Aljomaih Automotive Company