Thomson Reuters has boosted its leading legal know-how service, Practical Law, with more than 300 new resources designed to help companies and their legal advisors mitigate the risk and complexity associated with cross-border legal matters.
According to a 2016 survey conducted by Thomson Reuters, the level of confidence in cross-border opportunities among businesses is high and it’s likely that cross-border work will be an area of increasing importance for in-house counsel in large businesses as well as a growing source of advisory fees for large law firms.
The survey, which had 249 respondents, found that 63 per cent agreed that their organisation will be involved in an increasing amount of cross-border activity in the future. The majority (78 per cent) agreed that the growth of cross-border work is driven by the internationalisation of commerce and this trend is likely to continue to rise irrespective of economic cycles.
While the outlook for cross-border work is positive, the survey highlights that law firms often turn down the opportunity of the work due to the legal complexities involved.
“Cross-border work is complex and considered disproportionately challenging and risky by businesses and their legal advisors,” said Lucinda Case, managing director of the Legal UK & Ireland business of Thomson Reuters. “Lawyers that can advise confidently and demystify these challenges will play a critical leading role in helping their clients and their businesses to grow.”
The 300 new resources that feature in the Practical Law cross-border resource centre cover 21 jurisdictions and seven key-cross-border topics: commercial transactions, contracts, employment, disputes, loan financing, joint ventures and private M&A. The cross-border resources provide guidance around market-standard practices as well as international-standard legal documentation.
“The new resources on Practical Law will give our customers in-depth coverage of the key issues when they’re working on matters across multiple jurisdictions,” said Sara Catley, director of International Editorial at the Legal UK & Ireland business of Thomson Reuters. “Through the use of practice notes, standard documents with jurisdiction-specific guidance, and new tools such as the cross-border dashboard, lawyers can spot tricky areas at a glance and focus their time and expertise where it matters most.
Practical Law will enable users to get a snapshot of the legal complexity for their cross-border matter, integrate jurisdiction-specific guidance alongside international precedents and know-how from Thomson Reuters, and benchmark their practice via a new cross-border dashboard, market practice surveys, and through live user polls. Market practice surveys and live polls in Practical Law allow users to tap into the expertise of legal professionals worldwide, in order to stay on top of market practice, develop legal knowledge in challenging areas of law and gain invaluable insight.
Thomson Reuters plans to add two further topics to the cross-border resource centre in the next 12 months: data protection and IP & IT, and will publish an additional 500 new resources to the resource centre.
Practical Law is an online legal know-how service that provides rigorous peer reviewed resources, such as practice notes, current awareness and standard documents to help lawyers work smarter and advise with confidence. The resources are created and maintained by an extensive team of expert editors who have significant experience of working for the world’s leading law firms, companies and public sector organisations. Whether you need an accessible, authoritative overview of an area of law, or you simply want important updates on your existing specialism, Practical Law can help.
For more information visit the cross-border resource centre in Practical Law: https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/Browse/Home/crossborderresourcecentre
