Integrity Legal

With the rise of the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) Industry it is increasingly imperative that firms and individuals in the United States conduct due diligence in order to fully ascertain the credentials of those handling legal processing tasks offshore. There are many jurisdictions in which the legal profession is relatively young. As a result, there are relatively few rules and regulations regarding those individuals and companies which operate in areas that may be considered within the bailiwick of legal practitioners in the United States of America.

For American firms, proficiency in the English language is a major asset that is often assiduously sought when trying to find a legal process outsourcing service abroad. Furthermore, those overseas firms with staff who have fluency in both English and other languages can provide significant benefits to law firms in the United States handling cases in multiple international and interstate jurisdictions. That said,  language proficiency is not the only important attribute of a foreign legal processing service. There are many other aspects of a firm that must be examined before making a decision to retain legal processing services.

For those unfamiliar with the legal process outsourcing industry it has been growing in recent years due to consumer, corporate, and practitioner demands for faster and more efficient legal processing. Furthermore, many law firms in the United States are increasingly seeing the benefits of affordable legal processing services provided by competent legal firms abroad. In the vast majority of factual scenarios, the work of a practicing attorney cannot be effectively replicated through mere usage of a legal processing service, but an individual American attorney (or attorneys) could achieve large economies of scale in a practice area by utilizing the efficient and reasonably priced legal services of foreign legal processing professionals.

Although the “common law” system is not ubiquitous around the globe, this system of adjudicating cases is used by many jurisdictions throughout the world. Countries such as India have a long history of common law jurisprudence. Many legal processing firms in India can complete legal processing tasks faster and more efficiently than similar services in the United States and other English speaking countries.

As the world becomes increasingly “smaller” through globalization there is strong evidence to suggest that more countries will be doing business in and around Asia. Those with business in Asia often find that legal services are a necessity. Assistance is especially effective where the firm can provide reasonably priced legal services in both English and those languages used with great frequency throughout Asia such as: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese.

For information related to this post please see: Legal.

Tags: Law Firm Abroad, Legal, Legal Process Outsourcing, Legal Processing, Legal Processing Issues, legal processing offshore, LPO, Overseas Law Firm
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In a recent article, promulgated by The Nation Newspaper and distributed by the website ThaiVisa.com, it was announced that an American Citizen was arrested on money laundering charges on the Thai island of Koh Samui. To quote directly from ThaiVisa.com:

An American wanted by US authorities for alleged money laundering was charged on Samui Island yesterday.

Immigration police arrested Ronald Paul Shade, 39, who was allegedly fled California after international police and San Bernardino court issued arrest warrants for him. He was detained to face charges of money laundering and stealing about US$14 million.

Police said the American Embassy contacted them to trace Shade. They later found him “hiding” in Samui, which led to the arrest.

The suspect, who allegedly confessed, will be extradited to the US, according to a bilateral extradition treaty.

In the relatively recent past, occurrences such as this were relatively rare. This was likely due to the fact that the Thai Immigration database was not “tied in” to the American criminal databases and watchlists. Recently, it was announced that the Thai Immigration database would begin sharing information with their American counterparts, and vice versa. It is important to note that the United States of America and the Kingdom of Thailand share an Extradition Treaty. Therefore, an American Citizen with a pending criminal warrant, such as the suspect in the aforementioned news report, could be detained in Thailand and extradited back to the United States to face trial for the alleged offenses.

In the United States, there are various types of warrants and writs which could be issued in an attempt to compel an American Citizen, foreign national, or lawful permanent resident, to appear before a court of competent jurisdiction. For example, a bench warrant is generally issued by a Court when a defendant has failed to appear in connection with a pending civil or criminal matter. In some cases, those with a traffic citation, who fail to properly deal with the matter, are subjected to a bench warrant until such time as the underlying charge is satisfactorily resolved.

Under certain circumstances, a court in one jurisdiction will issue a fugitive warrant for the arrest of an individual in connection with an offense committed in another jurisdiction. Although this is somewhat uncommon, such matters are highly complex and those who are the subject of such a warrant should seek competent legal advice as soon as possible in an effort to deal with the matter in accordance with all relevant laws.

It would appear that Royal Thai Immigration authorities are taking a hard line against foreigners who are suspects in legal proceedings abroad. It remain to be seen whether this policy will continue to be rigorously enforced by Thai authorities, but one could easily infer that enforcement will continue and possibly become more zealous.

For further informational reading please see: warrant or Warrant For My Arrest.

Tags: American warrant, arrest warrant, Bench Warrant, criminal warrant, Extradition, Extradition Treaty, Fugitive Warrant, Legal, US warrant, warrant, warrant for my arrest, Writ
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