Overview
Corporate Counsel quoted Fernando Merino in a September 11 article titled "How to Build a Successful Foreign Legal Department from Scratch." The article discusses how companies go about opening and operating international offices.
Merino, who has served as Brazilian general counsel for JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch, says that one of the biggest and most common mistakes that businesses make in running overseas legal offices is failing or refusing to understand the local culture. "If you simply get your policy and you just apply it in black-and-white, that has the potential to be very problematic. You should really try to ‘tropicalize’ your policy in a way to do business with the local culture. That’s a No. 1 key element."
The full article can be read at Corporate Counsel (subscription required).
