International Commercial Practice
For more than 65 years, Wolf Popper has maintained an international commercial practice, both litigation and transactional. We count among our clients foreign governments, international companies, and individuals from many nations. Wolf Popper’s San Juan office provides us with a gateway to Latin America and the civil law system. Wolf Popper’s relationships with law firms in many countries around the world facilitate our representation of our foreign clients.
Wolf Popper has represented foreign plaintiffs in US courts in a wide variety of claims. For example, Wolf Popper represented a large international airline in its defense of a personal injury claim, alleging both statutory violations and common law negligence, and seeking damages of $5,000,000. We successfully obtained summary judgment for our client, affirmed by the Second Circuit on appeal. In a commercial dispute, we defended a global corporation against a claim seeking damages in excess of $100 million for an alleged breach of contract. The case was in arbitration hearings in New York for several weeks. Wolf Popper successfully reduced the amount of potential damages 99% before settlement. In another example, in a copyright infringement action in federal court in New York, Wolf Popper represented the European artist of a world famous sculpture. An avant-garde art collector had purchased a signed, bronze replica of the sculpture, had painted the work in garish colors, and displayed it in his shop. The collector refused to remove the paint. On behalf of the artist, we brought a case for copyright infringement. Wolf Popper won a complete victory for the artist, compelling the collector to remove the paint and enjoining him from in any way changing or distorting the work in the future, and also compelling the collector to pay the artist’s attorneys’ fees.
Wolf Popper also represents clients in international transactions. For example, we represented Zurab Tsereteli, President of the Russian Academy of Art, in connection with the installation of his 100-foot monument, “To the Struggle against World Terrorism” (
www.911monument.com), a gift from the artist and the president and people of the Russian Federation to the people of the United States, which monument stands on a peninsula at the entrance to New York harbor directly in front of the Statue of Liberty.
In addition to our office in San Juan, Wolf Popper employs a Spanish lawyer in our New York headquarters. Several attorneys are fully bilingual in Spanish and English. Attorneys and professional staff also speak other languages, including French, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, and Korean; and we have access to interpreters in all languages.
Carlos López López, our resident partner in Puerto Rico, is on the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Bar Association and Chairman of that Association’s International Law Committee.
If you have questions related to international commercial matters, please contact Wolf Popper LLP for assistance.
Attorneys
Lester L. Levy
Robert M. Kornreich
Carlos López López
Emily Madoff
Patricia I. Avery
Andrew E. Lencyk
Michele F. Raphael