Effectively Using a Lightning Rod

It’s been a while…my apologies! Waiting at an airport on a winter weather delay has me thinking of all the times I’ve been delayed because of summer weather like…lightning storms. It also gave me a chance to talk to a non-US company client about doing business here, and their structuring options; which also relates to my earlier post about when a company is deemed to be doing business here, for jurisdictional purposes.

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Learning, Knowing, and Living Incoterms (Or, How Fast Times at Ridgemont High Can Help Your Export Strategy)

In a prior post, I revealed that I am a child of the 1980s.  This post will start with a quote from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High: “Learn it. Know it. Live it.”

While the context of that quote was the Brad Hamilton character (Judge Reinhold) trying to get the Jeff Spicoli character (Sean Penn) to wear a shirt and shoes in a fast-food establishment, this post will focus on the terms of trade and that Irish/Northern Irish companies need to learn, know, and live: Incoterms. This is probably the first time, anywhere, that Incoterms and Fast Times at Ridgemont High have been linked, but I digress.

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Delaware is Right, Unless It’s Not

In the context of forming a U.S. affiliate, I’m often asked by non-U.S. companies whether Delaware is the always the best jurisdiction to form an entity. My answer: not always.

Irish and Northern Irish businesses should realize that the formation of business entities in the U.S. is done at the state level, not the Federal level. While Delaware is an attractive jurisdiction for corporate law, it’s not a huge business center—at least not the size of New York, California, Illinois, Texas, etc. That leaves the Irish/NI parent with a choice: (i) form the legal entity in the state where it will do most of its business; (ii) form the legal entity in Delaware and register it as a ‘foreign’ corporation in the state where it will do most of its business. Continue reading