Bruce Bowden´s clients frequently present him with the challenge faced by so many businesses who wish to set up operations in an overseas jurisdiction: both to satisfy local legal requirements and also end up with a structure which serves their purposes. On three separate occasions, this Legalink representative of Duane Morris, Pittsburgh, U.S.A., had the opportunity to test Legalink´s ability to seamless and effectively serve both of those purposes.

The first client was a Foundation in the Public Interest under Belgium Law. After a false start in the U.K., where there would have been issues over the purposes for which contributed money could have been used, Jo Lambers (from Legalink member Residentie Lexbron, Brussels, Belgium) guided Bruce through the steps his client needed to take to establish a truly international foundation, able to receive funds from for-profit companies in many countries, and having a rather small business governing board.

The second case related to a very large physician board with members from many countries and virtual autonomy over the promulgation, dissemination and creation of physician acceptance and use of clinical practice guidelines. The guiding principle here was that the organization, although the brainchild of a U.S. charity, should be visibly and truly international in character. And again, Jo Lambers´ collaboration was essential. The registered office of the foundation is Jo´s office and a mutually beneficial relationship is ongoing.

The third client was a U.S. company in a sophisticated portion of the building materials business: the protectively coated panels which you might see on the walls and roofs of high-rise buildings, power plants, sports buildings, etc. The company saw an important and rapidly developing market for its products in the People´s Republic of China (P.R.C.). To assist its clients into venturing in that promising market, Bruce Bowden worked closely with David Zou´s firm, Legalink member Boss & Young, in setting up an organization structure which both met P.R.C.´s requirements and accomplished the client´s objectives. Included were both a commercial W.F.O.E. (wholly foreign-owned enterprise) and a manufacturing W.F.O.E. in the Shanghai area which serve the entire P.R.C. market. In the process, and according to Bruce, “David has become a friend and a trusted advisor to these to P.R.C entities and their U.S. and P.R.C. managers”.