Banana Republic

From the archives of Overlawyered.com, July, 1999

Thought for the day. From American Lawyer‘s symposium last November on the international practice of law: “It is very sobering to me, as an American, and someone who actually believes in our system, to see foreign companies say over and over that the one thing they won’t put in their contracts is a clause that this is going to be governed by American law or be subject to an American jurisdiction. It makes one wonder whether we are really the most sophisticated commercial country in the world or a banana republic when you get major worldwide corporations doing that. I think it is a sobering issue for the American judicial system.”

— Robert Joffe, deputy presiding partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore