By trainee solicitor Simon Mercouris
The international element of work at Burges Salmon ranges from providing specialist UK advice to our international clients and clients of other international law firms to co-ordinating advice for our clients across multiple jurisdictions.
So how do we approach international work?
Our strategy is not to have international offices. Instead, we work with a network of leading independent firms around the world. This is our Preferred Firms Network – a network of like-minded firms who share our values.
There are over 300 overseas law firms in our Preferred Firm Network.
Through this network, we have been referred work concerning international clients seeking UK legal advice and, in turn, preferred firms have helped us provide seamless service for our clients' overseas legal requirements.
Our Preferred Firm Network is non-exclusive. This means we can match clients with the overseas law firm that is best suited to their requirements and budget, or alternatively, we can work with our clients’ chosen overseas law firm.
Throughout my training contract, rotating from one seat to the next, I have had significant exposure to different types of international clients and working with lawyers from various Preferred Firms.
Key examples of Burges Salmon's international work include:
- Advising a global US business on a major employment project that involved co-ordinating advice from 23 separate jurisdictions.
- Advising foreign governments seeking to introduce new nuclear legal regimes and applying IAEA laws and standards.
- Advising National Express Group on its tenders to run public transport services in several projects across the Middle East.
- Acting for Victoria’s Secret and other brands in its stable across a range of IP matters, including global contentious trade mark matters.
- Co-ordinating ongoing trade mark work for Harrods in ten countries in South America working with local attorneys in each country.
International secondment opportunities for trainees
For those keen to charter international waters early on in their career, Burges Salmon offers international secondment opportunities to trainees.
Each year there is an opportunity for a second year trainee to spend an eight week secondment at a Preferred Firm; in 2016 it was at our French Preferred firm, August & Debouzy.
There is also the opportunity for a second year trainee to spend four months in Brussels, from September to January, at the Joint Law Societies Brussels Office.
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