News / Resources

Petras and Affiliates Address International Bar Association

Cleveland partner and International Team Leader Steve Petras, Coaraci do Vale of the firm's Brazilian affiliate and Cesar Ochoa of the firm's Mexican affiliate, were invited by the International Bar Association's (IBA) Public and Professional Interest Division to be panelists at its 2008 Annual Meeting's Practicing Law Institute held October 11, 2008, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The panel presented "The Fundamentals of International Legal Business Practice: Companies and Clients Going Abroad."

Focusing on cross-border transactions in which counsel from different countries need to work together to represent the same client, the session covered the variations in the approaches of the common law and civil code lawyers to contract interpretation and enforcement issues as well as addressing choice of law and conflicts of law, regulatory compliance, ethics and cultural issues. Alfredo F. Cantilo of Fornieles Abogados, Buenos Aires, Argentina, a firm that has worked closely with BH on international matters, organized the panel and served as its moderator.