Our Profile
ADWA Opens Doors to Asia
We support German-speaking companies with their entry into the Asian market and contribute to sustainable success and growth in Asia as a long-term partner.
ADWA Lawyers
ADWA is short for the “Alliance of German Business Lawyers in Asia”. ADWA brings together German-speaking lawyers licensed in Germany, Austria or Switzerland who are familiar with the respective law and the legal system of their Asian country of residence. All ADWA Lawyers have many years of professional experience, live permanently in an Asian country and possess particular expertise in international business. They know about the challenges faced by medium-sized German-speaking enterprises entering the Asian market or expanding their Asian business as well as the needs of European multinational corporations, such as when implementing transnationally uniform group standards in Asia. ADWA Lawyers are familiar with the local mentality. The combination of expert knowledge, cultural understanding and long-standing experience enables them to guide your Asian business to success.
ADWA brings together German-speaking lawyers licensed in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, who are familiar with the respective law and the legal system of their Asian country of residence.
ADWA Law Firms
All ADWA Law Firms have a license to comprehensively practice law in the country where they are located or to give legal advice to the extent allowed according to respective local laws. They are the best positioned law firm in each Asian country to provide advisory services for legal transactions with German, Austrian or Swiss entities. The number of ADWA Law Firms is limited to one per Asian country. The basic requirement for admission to the network are, that a lawyer has received legal education and training in Germany, Austria or Switzerland and is in charge of a "German desk" and is therefore responsible for advising clients from German-speaking countries. Before being admitted to the network, each ADWA Law Firm undergoes a thorough selection process in its in which it is compared to other law firms in its country of operations. This ensures that all ADWA Law Firms meet the same high standards. All ADWA Law Firms are also members of Cross Border Business Lawyers, or CBBL, a network of German-speaking lawyers practicing in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Speaking the same language of Continental European law
Most Asian countries have adopted the Continental European legal system (civil law), whilst the Anglo-American legal system (common law) can be found primarily only in former British colonies (Singapore, Hong Kong, India etc.). Based on experience, law firms with an Anglo-American influence are less suited to make the bridge between two civil law systems. ADWA Lawyers were trained in the civil law system and are as such predestined to develop practical solutions for their clients in close collaboration with their local Asian colleagues. They also share the same language, culture and knowledge of business practices with German, Austrian and Swiss companies.
Our Services
With ADWA Law Firms as local partners
Companies from German-speaking countries can realize effective cooperation which opens a gateway to the Asian market, creating a framework for sustainable success and growth.
Platform and Network
ADWA is a platform providing companies with a qualified ADWA Lawyer in the respective Asian country. ADWA supports companies in finding experienced and committed German-speaking lawyers as contact persons in Asia, lawyers who have acquired over decades the necessary cultural understanding and a broad local network. Besides market-relevant experience, an entrepreneurial mindset and bilateral legal expertise, ADWA Lawyers possess valuable knowledge concerning local specifics and risks which they can present to you in a comprehensible manner. Amongst other services, ADWA coordinates joint events as well as transnational projects for its clients, while constantly ensuring adherence to ADWA’s common standards (see ADWA codex).
Key Contact Partners
ADWA supports companies in Pan-Asian matters that require the involvement of lawyers in several Asian countries, including partner law firms in Asian countries outside of the ADWA network. This enables ADWA Law Firms, for example, to organize a product recall in multiple Asian countries in a time- and cost-effective manner, implement compliance standards across a group of companies simultaneously or coordinate post-merger adjustments in Asian companies. In such Pan-Asian projects, one ADWA Lawyer becomes the key contact person, pooling communication with respective clients and coordinating the work of lawyers involved from other Asian countries.
ADWA Lawyers also help German-speaking companies to coordinate their business in Asia on a long-term basis, serving as a key contact. The client is then able to always direct his Asian-related inquiries to the same ADWA Lawyer, who is familiar with the respective company and its operations in Asia. If necessary, this lawyer will involve further ADWA Lawyers or further partner law firms in other Asian countries and will coordinate their work. As a result, transaction costs are minimized and synergies generated.
ADWA Law Firms
All ADWA Law Firms meet the following criteria:
1.
ADWA Law Firms are admitted as law firms or in the form legally required to provide advisory services in the country where they are located.
2.
ADWA Law Firms must have a German, Austrian or Swiss lawyer on their team who functions as contact and communication partner and is in charge of coordinating the client’s requests.
3.
ADWA Law Firms are specialized in advising companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and are ideally organized to serve such German-speaking client’s needs. ADWA Law Firms are optimized for communication between different time zones and are therefore easy to reach.
4.
ADWA Lawyers have a high level of intercultural competence, not only in the area of law, but also with regard to matters of business. Aside from the drafting of contracts, they can support negotiations, if wished by the client, who will benefit from their understanding as cultural intermediaries.
5.
ADWA Lawyers live permanently in their Asian country of practice, while maintaining their bar admission in their German-speaking country of origin or training. ADWA lawyers are members of a bar association in either Germany, Austria or Switzerland, bound to follow the high standards of the respective bar association.