Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC

Our International Group provides a broad range of legal services to domestic clients doing business overseas and foreign clients transacting business in the United States. Our lawyers have extensive experience in handling a variety of sophisticated international matters, including mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property licensing, intellectual property enforcement and rights, overseas manufacturing operations, agency and distributorship arrangements, construction agreements, inbound and outbound capital investments, joint ventures, outsourcing, immigration, aircraft equipment acquisitions and product liability. We have handled such matters throughout North and South America, Europe, the Pacific Rim and other Asian countries, and in Australia.

Our global reach and the broad expertise of our lawyers enable us to provide cost-effective and responsive services to our clients on international matters.

Representative recent international matters include:

• A significant M&A transaction in Australia;
• International hotel developments and joint ventures in Russia, Mexico, Western Europe, Central America and Japan;
• Representation of airlines in China, Europe and the Middle East;
• Representation of foreign air carriers including obtaining customs bonds, working with customs on Advanced Passenger Information System (“APIS”), Passenger Name Records (“PNR”) and A Manifest System (“AMS”) for cargo;
• Assisting clients with enforcement of U.S. intellectual property laws through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) as goods enter into the U.S.;
• Representation of Middle Eastern and North African governments in politically sensitive litigation;
  • International agency distributorship agreements for a U.S. telecommunications products manufacturer;
• Counsel U.S. and foreign shippers on U.S. Customs and Border Protection import issues and represent companies in investigation and enforcement proceedings before CBP and the U.S. Court of International Trade;
• Represent foreign corporation in suit commenced against CBP and defense of CBP investigation. Successfully avoided duty penalties and currently seeking judgment at Court of International Trade upholding client's view of the proper classification of the product and a refund of nearly $2,000,000;
• Investments by Australian venture capital firms in a U.S. technology company;
• Strategic operational and tax advice to a U.S. importer of electronic products;
• Representation of a United Kingdom technology company in establishing U.S. operations;
• Establishment of UK subsidiary for a U.S. service provider;
• Overseas financing for parties based in the Cayman Islands;
• Joint venture between a Chinese manufacturer and a U.S. distributor;
• Representation of a Scottish pharmaceuticals company in U.S. based clinical study agreements;
• Resolution of source of origin and labeling problems, particularly with the import of goods from Latin America and the Far East;
• Representation of clients who had goods seized when they were imported into the U.S.;
• Assisted clients with NAFTA customs issues involving goods being imported into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.

Our relationships with leading overseas law firms enhance our ability to serve our clients worldwide. Eckert Seamans is the Pennsylvania member of Lex Mundi, the leading international association of large independent law firms in every state of the U.S. and almost every foreign jurisdiction. We are also a member of the State Capital Group, comprised of independent law firms with offices in each state capital.

At Eckert Seamans, we consider ourselves to be part of our clients' teams and help answer the daily challenges confronting them.

Our policy is simple: Eckert Seamans values the breadth of perspective and experience that comes with a diverse complement of lawyers and staff. We are a firm with national and international clients and a practice which takes our lawyers into cities and courts across this country and abroad. A diverse workforce not only provides a better understanding of the communities and business environments in which we and our clients operate, but also makes our firm a better place to work. Diversity is, and will continue to be, important to our success.

We actively and continuously examine our policies and practices in order to strengthen those that promote inclusiveness. We work to establish “best practices” in the area of diversity just as we do in all areas of our business. As part of our efforts we also look to best practices developed at other businesses that we can apply at Eckert Seamans.

Eckert Seamans is committed to developing and maintaining a diverse workforce of lawyers and staff. We will continue to work hard to make our workforce reflective of the communities which we serve.

In order to meet our goals, our firm has established a Diversity Committee, which includes lawyers (both members and associates) from a variety of offices and practice groups. The Diversity Committee also includes a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, leading members of our practice groups and managing partners at our offices. The Diversity Committee is charged with coordinating recruitment and retention of female and minority attorneys as well as the development and implementation of policies which foster diversity at all levels of the firm. It works closely with the firm’s Hiring, Associate and Executive Committees.