My career as a legal adviser has been extremely exciting and varied, spanning numerous countries on six continents (excluding only Antarctica where I had no internet connectivity). It has taken me from Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, where I qualified as an attorney, to Paris, where I established Bryan Cave’s French office and now practice as a dual-qualified international lawyer.
I help multinational businesses and financial institutions in the commercial, corporate and financial sectors deal with issues such as compliance, financial regulation, data protection and privacy, anti-corruption, multi-level marketing and customs and trade law.
I also advise sovereign governments, handle crisis management situations, assist on mergers and acquisitions and manage a wide variety of litigation matters, ranging from major infrastructure projects to complex international financial disputes, as well as contract and labor law disputes.
I have taught courses on international business transactions, international dispute resolution, US constitutional law, and the common law system.
I have published numerous articles, both scholarly and more practice oriented. And I have spoken on a wide spectrum of related topics, from bankers’ liability to the Millennium bug, to the law of beer.
In my free time, I have been active in a broad variety of charitable, civic, political, and religious activities, including The American Chamber of Commerce in France, the Democratic National Committee, Democrats Abroad, Duke University Alumni Club of France and St. Joseph’s RC Church.
And somehow despite all of that, I find time for my many friends and family, not to forget my passions for art, serious music, theater, dance, cooking, fine dining, travel, sports and adventure.
Joseph J. Smallhoover
