Enabling International Trade

We help companies navigate the complexities of global commerce with confidence, clarity and compliance.

At Cobden Law, we draw our name and inspiration from the original champion of free trade, Richard Cobden. Our mission is to facilitate international commerce by assisting clients with what they need to be successful in the global trade arena, from structuring single cross border transactions, to providing comprehensive international business advice through fractional General Counsel, outside Compliance Officer or Director services.

We believe in and advocate for open markets and ethical business practices as a means to empower growth and prosperity across industries and nations.

Services

International Trade Transaction
Support

  • International Agreement Negotiation

    • Sales and Purchases

    • Affreightment and Storage

    • Distribution and Offtakes

    • Payment structuring (Guarantees, Bills of Exchange, Letters of Credit)

  • International Trade Regulatory Advice

    • Sanctions, export controls and anti-boycott

    • Rules of Origin, Classification and Valuation

    • U.S. Customs rules and protests

    • Technical regulations for chemical trading (TSCA, REACH, DEA)

    • Free Trade Agreements

    • Maritime

    • Antitrust

    • Intellectual Property

    • Antidumping and Countervailing duties

  • International employees and agents

    • Employment agreements 

    • Consultancy and Agency agreements, including set up of operations to avoid misclassification upon implementation

  • Mergers & Acquisitions (selling, merging or buying a foreign operation)

    • Negotiation of MOUs and Joint Venture agreements

    • Legal Customs and Compliance Due Diligence

  • Dispute Prevention & Resolution

    • Handling cross-border commercial disputes (pre-litigation advice, arbitration strategy)

    • Advising on international arbitration clauses and dispute venues

Management and Compliance
Support

  • Fractional General Counsel

    • Comprehensive, practical, legal advice, as needed, as outside General Counsel to the Senior Management of a business involved or seeking to be involved in international trade and business

  • Board Director

    • Independent Board Director with strong background on international business operations and risk

    • Corporate Secretary and Corporate Board operation advice in multinational settings

  •  Compliance Officer/Attorney

    • Set up and operation of international Compliance Department

    • Advice for international trade operations pertaining to

      • anti-corruption

      • export controls

      • sanctions

      • anti-money laundering

      • antiboycott 

      • anti-trust

      • document fraud

    • Code of Conduct and Global Trade Compliance Manual

    • Record retention policies and systems

    • Hotline/Internal reporting mechanism 

    • Privacy policies

    • Incident Response Planning

    • Third-party onboarding system

    • Voluntary self-disclosures

    • Compliance training


Trade Policy
Support

  • Advising clients on policy developments affecting global supply chains

    • Monitoring legislative/regulatory changes affecting global trade

  • Helping businesses lobby

    • Commenting on trade regulations

    • Drafting position letters and lobbying materials

  • Representing companies in trade association meetings or public consultations

The Cobden Way

Richard Cobden, diplomat, statesman, believed that free trade brings peace and harmony among nations.

He was tireless in promoting open trade between nations as a means of economic development for all classes. His work led to the repeal of corn tariffs in Britain and a groundbreaking free trade treaty between Britain and France in 1860, the first of its kind, which included a "most favoured nation" clause ensuring equal trade treatment between countries. This clause has been incorporated into all modern multilateral free trade agreements.

Quotes from Richard Cobden

”The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace, the spread of commerce, and the diffusion of education, than upon the labours of cabinets and foreign offices.”

”While free trade was never a guarantee of peace, it reduced the danger of war more than any public policy ever had.”

“People…must be brought into mutual dependence by the supply of each others’ wants. There is no other way of counteracting the antagonism of language and race…no other plan is worth a [penny].”