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Legal Eagle

Scottish Law

Q: Working cross borders

I want to hire a solicitor to handle my production company's contracts. However, this is likely to involve work in both England and Scotland where the legal system Is entirely separate. Should I find a practice which operates both north and south of the border, or is it more important to find a firm which specialises in entertainment law?

A: I doubt very much whether you will need two solicitors in the circumstances you describe because, although English and Scottish law may be different in many respects (particularly property law), in the case of the law relating to commercial contracts it is very similar.

So decisions of the Scottish courts are frequently cited as precedents in the English courts and vice versa. Furthermore a contract can, and indeed should, stipulate expressly that it is governed by the law of a particular country where more than one country is involved. You will therefore need only one solicitor in one or other of the two jurisdictions. The important thing is that he should have the required expertise and satisfy the other criteria you expect from your professional adviser.

But, even supposing that commercial contract law were to be very different in two separate jurisdictions in which you operate, your first priority should be to ensure that the solicitor in each country satisfies your criteria and is able to work well with his counterpart in the other country concerned. You can either leave it to the solicitor in one country to select a suitable counterpart in the other or alternatively you can select both and put them in contact with each other.

I have followed both routes in my time and both seem to me to be equally acceptable, although the latter may be preferable from the solicitor's point of view, in case by some mischance he finds himself having to work with a counterpart whom he does not like or respect or with whom he cannot get on.

Having said that, my own experience is that I have worked many times with foreign lawyers in other firms selected by my clients, and I have always enjoyed an excellent relationship with them.

I can see no particular need or advantage in using different offices of the same firm in the different countries concerned, although those firms who market their services on an international basis will doubtless argue the contrary. But then they would, wouldn't they?

There are horses for courses and, as I have indicated, the priority should be that you find the lawyer or lawyers who are right for you, who can work well together if and when the need for co-operation between them arises, and who have the required level of expertise. In my view, whether they are from the same firm or different firms is immaterial.

First published July 1996