Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP has a substantial International Law Practice and our attorneys use their wealth of talent and experience to assist their diverse clientele. The Firm assists many foreign-based companies in establishing and maintaining manufacturing and sales operations in the United States. We also provide counsel to domestic entities seeking to expand operations internationally.

The representation of foreign-based clients raises a wide variety of complex legal issues. Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP has significant experience and expertise in the following areas:

• Site selection and government incentives
• Structuring United States operations
• Taxation and finance
• Acquiring United States companies
• Real estate and Construction law
• Employment laws
• Immigration matters
• Export/import issues
• Patents, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property issues

Our clients range from small family-owned German “Mittelstand” companies to multi-national corporations in many diverse industries, such as automotive, infrastructure, renewable energy, steel- and building materials, food and medical equipment as well as software and computer technology. We assist our clients in all matters from the start-up with the negotiation of site selection agreements as well as complex multijurisdictional M&A transactions and act as general counsel in our clients’ sustained U.S. operations.

Experience and Staffing

Our attorneys include German nationals who are licensed to practice in Germany, Italy, UK, Spain as well as Georgia. In addition to our strong German practice, we are one of the leading firms in the United States representing Korean and Scandinavian businesses with particular emphasis on Finland and U.S. operations of Finnish entities. Our attorneys are fluent in all major European languages as well as Russian, Farsi, Chinese, Korean and Hebrew. In addition, our administrative staff includes multilingual professionals who facilitate document preparation and communications.

Our Firm is a member of The Terralex Group and The Bridge Group which further supports our international representation capabilities.

• The TerraLex Group is an association whose mission is to help member firms serve their clients’ legal needs and business interests through a worldwide network of quality law firms that meets high professional standards.
• The Bridge Group is a network of outstanding regional law firms in the U.S. and Europe that assist one another to serve client needs within member firm locations and specialized practice areas.