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Neil Popovic

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Neil Popović is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office and is Team Leader of the International Litigation and Arbitration team and the ESG and Sustainability Team.

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As discussed in a previous blog post, an interested party in a foreign or international proceeding may apply to a United States District Court for discovery from an individual or corporation who resides or is found in the district. This blog describes the procedural steps for pursuing or responding to discovery requests under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. The operative language of section 1782(a) provides:

The district court of the district in which a person resides or is found may order him to give his testimony or statement or to produce a document or other thing for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal, including criminal investigations conducted before formal accusation. The order may be made pursuant to a letter rogatory issued, or request made, by a foreign or international tribunal or upon the application of any interested person and may direct that the testimony or statement be given, or the document or other thing be produced, before a person appointed by the court.
Continue Reading Pursuing and Responding to Discovery Requests Under 28 U.S.C. § 1782

On December 20, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation. This Convention will open for signature on August 7, 2019 in Singapore and will become known as the “Singapore Convention on Mediation”: It provides a framework for the recognition of international settlement agreements similar to that provided by the New York Convention for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”). Specifically, the Singapore Convention applies to settlement agreements reached outside of court and arbitral proceedings, which without the Convention are not directly enforceable in a domestic legal system.
Continue Reading The Singapore Convention Allows for Recognition of Settlement Agreements Made Outside of Court or Arbitral Proceedings

Fearing the burdens of U.S. court litigation, many foreign companies doing business with American counter-parties insist on forum selection clauses that call for resolution of disputes outside of U.S. courts, either in foreign courts or international arbitration. High on the list of objectives may be avoiding U.S.-style discovery, which can justifiably strike fear into the hearts of non-U.S. companies. However, before congratulating themselves too heartily, such companies should consider the often overlooked provisions of a U.S. statute that authorizes U.S. courts to order discovery for use in certain foreign legal proceedings.
Continue Reading US Law Allows Discovery for Foreign Proceedings

A recent California case may force companies doing business with foreign entities to reconsider—and maybe rewrite—their contracts. In Rockefeller Tech. Invs. (Asia) VII v. Changzhou Sinotype Tech. Co., No. B272170, 2018 WL 2455092 (Cal. App. June 1, 2018), the California Court of Appeal held that parties may not contract around the formal service requirements of the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents, commonly referred to as the Hague Service Convention. The decision could have profound implications for international business.
Continue Reading Contracts with Foreign Companies May Require a Rewrite