“One of the other partners suspected it was a “Youxian Zeren Gongsi” form of business. Guess she was wrong. Asian, right? China, maybe? And, Justin, what is that strange German symbol-thing I keep seeing in the due diligence–GmbH, that’s it–and what does that mean? Your Professor Bloor at dear old Siwash didn’t cover these in Corporations, I guess. How about S.A.? Oy? Hevra Pratit? Cyfyngedig? What about those, smart guy?”
Increasingly, and obviously, U.S. lawyers are helping clients do business with foreign companies and in foreign jurisdictions, guiding them as they set up shops and entities abroad, and representing non-U.S. companies in the U.S. If you are starting to do that, and need to take a first step, visit the International Directory of Corporate Symbols and Terms. It was first published in 2002 by member firms of the Salzburg, Austria-based International Business Law Consortium. A prescient American law prof, writer and businessman, Dennis Campbell, is the IBLC’s founder and director. Campbell also founded, in 1976, the well-known Center for International Legal Studies, also headquartered in Salzburg.