Law Firms and Export Insurance Companies

Abstract

In the age of globalization the relevance of international trade has increased tremendously. As a consequence, many transactions go beyond the legal framework of the nation state. Mechanisms provided by the nation states are not anymore suitable to secure international transactions. The enforcement of cross-border claims is complicated by legal and practical problems. Arbitration has an increasing importance for cross-border conflict resolution, but it is not able to replace state court proceedings. The author analyses this topic from the perspective of international law-firms based on existing studies, statistics, and his experience as international lawyer. On the basis of 30 practical cases the author provides insight into the claim management in the export insurance industry, a sector where private actors (export insurance companies and law-firms) use litigation as central instrument for cross-border conflict resolution. The analysis shows that export insurance provides an important contribution in this context, in particular for small and midsized companies regarding their possibilities to reduce the payment default risk in international business relationships.