Working Together to Represent Clients Across Borders

I am just back from the annual meeting of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), a close-knit global network of employment and immigration law firms.  The ELA includes one firm from each U.S. state and Canadian province and from (at present) 124 countries around the world.  The ELA is a group of hand picked firms that not only offer the best legal service available but whose lawyers are collegial and excellent to work with, so we all feel comfortable and confident working together and referring clients to one and other.  The annual meeting this year was in London, such a treat - it was an exciting week to be in London, with Fashion Week and the Pope visiting at the same time.  The annual meeting is a welcome opportunity to see our ELA colleagues (about 180 attended this year, representing almost all of the member jurisdictions) and get caught up on legal changes affecting our clients.  Many of our business clients operate in other states or countries.  Many of our college and university clients operate campuses or programs in other countries.   Coincidentally, a new case from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) confirms how critical it is to work with counsel in each jurisdiction where clients operate.  On September 14, 2010, the CJEU held in Akzo Nobel Chemical v. Commission that the attorney-client privilege does not apply to in-house counsel under European Union (EU) law.  Communications between the client's staff and in-house counsel are not privileged, at least in part because in-house counsel employed by the client are not seen as sufficiently independent from the client to justify privilege.  This decision was made in the context of a variety of laws in the various EU member states as to whether the attorney-client privilege applies to in-house counsel or to counsel from outside the EU. These rules are quite different than what we work with in the United States, a good reminder of why it is so important to work closely with counsel in other jurisdictions as our clients increasingly operate across borders.