A solicitor from Cardiff and London law firm Capital Law has been invited to speak at two international conferences in Germany.
Corporate specialist Marlies Hoecherl, a German national, will take part in seminars in Hamburg later this month and in Berlin in June. She is expected to be the only UK-based lawyer to speak at the events, organised through international lawyers’ networks.
Ms Hoecherl, who moved to Wales twenty years ago, qualified as an English and Welsh solicitor in 1999. She has been a key player in Consulegis, the international network of more than 1600 lawyers in 40 countries and, two years ago, was appointed to head up its specialist tax and corporate group. She is currently leading the production of an international publication on corporate and commercial issues.
At Consulegis’ symposium this month, Ms Hoecherl will be part of a panel of three experts speaking on insolvency issues, focusing on cross border debts in the current economic climate and alternatives to standard debt recovery litigation.
In June, she will speak in Berlin on due diligence in property investment at a conference organised by the Union Internationale des Avocats, a global network of associations and several thousand individual lawyers from more than 110 countries.
Ms Hoecherl said
“This is yet another opportunity to build on the international connections Capital Law and I have already made. The international focus for business, whether the world resists calls for greater protectionism or not, continues to increase, despite the recession. We have been a member of Consulegis for 14 years and during this time have forged invaluable links with lawyers from all over the world who we know and trust to help sort out clients’ international issues. Likewise, we are called upon to advise other members’ clients on UK issues. It’s a great way to do business and, for our clients, offers a huge advantage.
“The two conferences will be attended by some of the world’s major players in the legal industry and it will be fascinating to share knowledge and experiences with them – particularly about how their clients are dealing with the recession and how we can work together to re-invigorate business.”
Ms Hoecherl is leading Capital Law’s drive to make international transactions easier for clients.
She said “It used to be the case that clients perceived legal advice around cross border transactions to be fraught with difficulties. Instructing foreign lawyers often created language problems, but equally clients experienced the red tape, delays and complications caused by UK lawyers not been qualified to advise them on foreign laws. A small element of this remains, although we have proved to our clients that, by using our overseas connections, international transactions can complete as quickly and smoothly as domestic ones.”
Last year Capital Law recruited US and UK qualified lawyer Malcolm Mason who is based in its London office, having spent the last twenty five years in New York working for multinational corporations. The firm is now seeing work flowing from the US, as well as European businesses.
“Although the economic climate has, predictably, reduced the number of cross border investment deals, there is still a great enthusiasm amongst UK businesses to expand into Europe and beyond” said Ms Hoecherl.
“The weak pound has generated major opportunities for export from and inward investment into Wales and this has been enhanced by the Welsh Assembly Government’s recently announced multi-million pound export assistance programme. Capital Law is working hard to help clients capitalise on these advantages.”
For more information, contact Amanda Salamon at Capital Law on 02920 474 401, or a.salamon@capitallaw.co.uk
