Readers, I am very happy to announce that I have joined Victoria Associates, a group of lawyers from around the world who handle international disputes, in court and in arbitration. The founders and driving forces behind Victoria Associates are my friends and now colleagues George Yates, Duarte Henriques, and Lee Boyd, three eminent practitioners in their fields. The other members of the group are Luis Bergolla, a doctoral candidate at Stanford and professor of practice at the University of Arizona College of Law, who is qualified in several US jurisdictions as well as in Spain and Venezuela, Marta Faria Carter, who practices in Lisbon, Tony Ng, who is with the AIAC in Kuala Lumpur, Matheus Puppe, who practices in Frankfurt, Miguel Salas, in Seville, and Kyriaki Noussia, in Athens.

Think of Victoria Associates as the global disputes team at a really big law firm, just without … the really big law firm. We have lawyers qualified in jurisdictions around the globe, with a special focus in the Lusophone world. We work both in the world of arbitration and in the world of litigation.

Does this mean the end of Folkman LLC? No way! Victoria Associates is not a law firm: it’s a network of lawyers who work together on cross-border cases where our unique mix of lawyers with varying areas of expertise make us a good fit. But each of us is an independent practitioner. I will continue to work in my two areas of practice, namely international judicial assistance / private international law and Boston civil and commercial litigation. But when I have a case that requires the collective talents and resources of my new colleagues, I will work with them to give our clients the same level of skill and judgment they could expect from groups many times our size. And I will do the same for them when they have cases where I can contribute.

Stay tuned for news from Victoria Associates—I will bring it to you as it happens.