BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP IN LEGAL COUNSEL INTERNATIONAL

Legal Counsel International ("LCI") is directed to established private practitioners and firms who have significant expertise in international business matters with English fluency, "laptop" literacy, and e-mail connections - lawyers who enjoy their work, and are responsive and pragmatic in their approach to problem resolution.

LCI is not a law firm, but a private alliance of international lawyers. It is a way of offering to all members the marketing and collaborative benefits of established professional and personal relationships that each of us has nurtured over the years. The alliance will also make it easier for businesses -- large, small, established and emerging -- to link with qualified attorneys in international business practice worldwide.

Assisted by today's rapid e-mail linkages, this practical network provides easier, faster access to proven, responsive expertise on a global basis. We believe this network will enhance client satisfaction, provide efficient feedback on local legal issues and enhance the effective resolution of transnational business issues.

Clients -- whether from the U.S., Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia or Latin America -- are increasingly seeking a greater level of personal service and relationship, lower overhead structure and targeted expertise. We believe that this trend will increase in the future.

To serve our clients better and increase their awareness of international legal resources, LCI members believe that an informal alliance for marketing and networking purposes, with compatible individuals who also enjoy the entrepreneurial side of law, will be mutually useful.

On behalf of clients, LCI members can access the quality and skills of a "virtual" multi-national law firm. Technology allows this to be achieved with lower overhead costs, while maintaining a high degree of personal service, traditional legal standards for reliable work-product, and complete freedom to associate the most qualified talent, tailored to the task at hand.

Each of us knows the lawyers worldwide to whom we might refer particular matters. But our clients do not necessarily recognize that each of us has this access and extra depth.

Participation in a high-quality alliance of carefully chosen and experienced lawyers will make it easier -- via brochures, e-mail, international directory listings and an Internet newsletter and Website -- to educate clients as to the resources and services available, worldwide, through each of our firms.

We may practice locally. But as international business lawyers, we function internationally without having to have a direct presence in each country. The LCI network will enhance each member's multi-national resources. Participation in LCI will enable clients to see this reality at a glance, as each member can list this affiliation on letterhead, in brochures, on business cards, web pages, and other media.

There is no requirement that any alliance member work through another member. Each member firm or private attorney remains independent and free to associate with any lawyer or firm for any matter. Collaborations and referrals remain purely voluntary and completely a matter of professional judgment. This affiliation is not designed to encumber any member's ability to work with or refer business to anyone they choose.

However, by pooling our resources in the form of this alliance of firms and individual lawyers in strategic locations, we can achieve the following, and more:

• Business Development, Promotion and Recognition for your firm by LCI colleagues as they attend conferences around the world, or distribute LCI materials to their clients.

• Fast Access via E-mail Connections to other information about foreign laws or business services that an alliance member might require.

• Global Distribution of a High Quality Brochure for clients, making it easier for them to recognize the global connections of their principal attorney, and the proven capabilities of the attorneys in the alliance network.

• Responsive Attention for Client Matters, channelled through you as principal attorney, from member firms.

• Web Site for LCI Members with Links to Other Relevant Sites, for research, sharing of useful information, and greater client service, worldwide. Clients will more quickly and clearly recognize that your practice is positioned to help them solve problems on a worldwide basis.

• Listing of Legal Counsel International in the Current "Lex Mundi" Directory of Law Firm Alliances, as published on the Web and in hard copy.

LCI's specific focus and its advantage is that it will link experienced private practitioners and specialized firms on a global basis, from Beijing to Barcelona, from Portland to Paris, in a very practical way.