Inbound investment in U.S. real estate is an expanding area of interest to some of the firm's clients. In addition to representing an Australian company owning major shopping centers throughout the United States, the firm represents one of the world's ten largest property funds in its North American activities. This property fund holds assets in the United States in excess of 2 billion dollars. The firm's real estate lawyers have structured, negotiated and concluded the acquisition, assemblage, ownership, development, management, leasing, financing, operation and/or disposition of real estate property throughout the United States through various ownership vehicles comprised of both domestic and foreign-owned entities. The typical (but not exclusive) U.S. real estate investments of our clients outside the United States are major shopping centers, office buildings and parks, hotels, condominiums/residential housing developments, strip centers, storage facilities, and manufacturing companies. Such U.S. projects, by nature, frequently require the experience of our Tax, Environmental and Corporate Finance practice groups.

Interaction Between Practice Groups/Teams

• The Corporate Practice Group advises on matters including the legal and tax considerations regarding the movement of goods, services, capital and people across national borders, as well as treaties relating to such activities.
• The Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Team structures world-wide licensing agreements for patented items, represents patent portfolios of companies inside and outside the United States, performs freedom to operate studies for companies entering the United States market, and has trademark, copyright and franchising experience in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
• The Private Wealth Practice Group assists in estate planning for foreign individuals who invest or reside in the United States as well as estate planning for United States citizens who reside abroad.
• The Litigation Practice Group has wide experience with the litigation needs of foreign companies doing business in the United States as well as supervising litigation on behalf of U.S. companies in foreign jurisdictions.  Our attorneys have considerable experience in the techniques of cross-border litigation, including the enforcement of foreign judgments, obtaining evidence from abroad through the Hague Evidence Convention and other means, and the tactics involved in coordinating parallel proceedings in various jurisdictions around the world. 

The firm’s attorneys have acted as arbitrators and counsel in international arbitration proceedings administered by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), and other major international arbitral tribunals.  They are also experienced in the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards under the New York Convention.

Immigration based clients

The attorneys in this area focus on business and family based immigration law and representation before the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Immigration Law Judge. A major concern of this practice is employer and employee compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Additionally, AGG provided the immigration representation to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

Cultural Diversity

The varied experience and backgrounds of the attorneys in AGG's International Practice Group helps to ensure that there is understanding and respect for the business customs throughout the world. Included among the attorneys in the group are a Chinese attorney and a German attorney who is also licensed to practice in Germany. Other attorneys have lived in many of the foreign countries in which they represent clients and the firm is able to conduct business in the Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Korean, Spanish and Russian languages.

The firm maintains an exchange program whereby at least one and sometimes two or more foreign attorneys work as legal advisors in the firm's day-to-day practice.
 
Members of the firm are actively involved in the international community in Atlanta. In recent years an interesting and increasing part of our international practice has involved using our international network to introduce U.S. entrepreneurs and investors to foreign investors and potential U.S. and foreign joint venture partners to each other, to assist various foreign government agencies with their U.S. economic development activities and to assist U.S. economic developers in recruiting foreign institutional and entrepreneurial investors.

For more information on this practice area, contact

• Teri A. Simmons, Practice Leader