Five Reasons to Retain an International Law Firm for Your Business
When doing business internationally, it is essential to have a legal firm for both representation and consultation. The following are five of the many reasons for this necessity.
photo Pearson Scott Foresman
Assessment of taxes prior to market entry
It is important to understand all of the laws that apply to your company before entering the market; it can mean the difference between profit and loss. Different countries have a different tax code, and some of these taxes are applied differently than a business is used to in the United States. In some cases, there may be taxes that exist in a foreign market that are non-existent in the United States. Having a good estimate of the tax bill before your foreign operation begins will help with more accurate projections of profitability and the risk of losing money.
Accurate assessment of labor costs
Labor is often the single biggest expense and a barrier to profitability in many markets. Labor laws can vary greatly, especially the burdened cost of labor. A business may think that labor is cheap in the beginning only to find out that severance costs associated with laying off workers is expensive. With an experienced international law firm, you can be advised as to all of the labor laws that pertain to your particular area of business. This helps to estimate labor costs accurately, and therefore, helps to project profitability for a company.
Costs associated with environmental regulations
This is especially important to businesses that use raw materials for manufacturing. It is evitable that there will be waste associated with production. Knowing ahead of time the procedure to dispose of the waste and the cost associated with this is critical to success. A single illegal dumping of waste can erase profits in a single day with one ruling from the government.
Import and export laws
Knowing exactly the regulations regarding the exporting of goods to the target nation can expedite the process as well as keeping taxes to a minimum. This applies to delivering finished goods to the target nation, but it is also important to know exactly which laws apply to exporting finished product that has been manufactured in the target nation. Taking advantage of a nation’s lower labor costs is in vain, if there is a high cost associated with getting the product out of the country for sale to the rest of the world. Manufacturing in foreign nations may mean acquiring raw materials outside of the country. This can be tricky because there can be a third nation involved, and the issues of international trade with three nations can become complex quickly.
Representation is essential
Regardless of how good the advice and consultation from an international law firm is, there will be a few problems that will happen. Having a law firm to talk to and represent your company can facilitate communication between your company and the foreign government. If the need arises, an international law firm can represent your business in a court of law.
There are many international law firms to choose from. Some of them have specialties within a nation. The larger firms will handle all legal issues within a certain nation or economic zone such as Europe. The international law firm of Shahram Shirkhani is an example of this.
Guest Author: Lolita Di
