About O'Connell & Co

OUR FIRM AND OUR PRACTICE

O'Connell & Co practices US and international business and corporate and project finance law from offices in Annapolis, Maryland; Washington, D.C., Beijing, China and, shortly, Dublin, Ireland.

The Firm was originally founded in order to provide all types and sizes of enterprises (including SME's) with access to the types of sophisticated legal specialties traditionally offered only by large global firms, absent the bureaucracy and expense that oft-time accompanies such engagements. We have successfully maintained this focus and we believe we occupy a unique niche in the international business and legal communities. We remain committed to providing superior personal service, rendered in the most efficient, cost-effective manner possible.

We counsel clients involved in all forms of business transactions including mergers, acquisitions and divestitures by American and overseas companies, and have handled a variety of public and private placements of debt and equity in the US and abroad.

At the time of our founding, the primary focus of the Firm's practice was providing legal support to US companies with regard to their direct investment activities in the People's Republic of China, including the Hong Kong SAR, and, on a selective basis, elsewhere in East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

While Greater China is and will always remain a major part of our Firm's practice, we continue to expand our global reach and remain committed to assisting our clients wherever in the world their business activities may take them.

We shall continue to work with primarily mid-sized U.S.companies with regard to all aspects of their out-bound foreign direct investment ("FDI") activities, including the establishment of branches, wholly-owned subsidiaries and joint ventures, in a variety of manufacturing activities, as well as in the sales, distribution, real estate and service sectors. In addition to our corporate and project finance capabilities, we employ our real estate, construction, banking and commercial lending expertise.

To date, regularly working with our extensive network of in-country corresponding counsel, we have provided legal support to our U.S. clients in approximately 22 different counties, which, in addition to the People's Republic of China, now include Ireland and most Member States of the European Union; in East Asia (Korea and Japan); Southeast Asia (principally, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore) and the Middle East (significantly, Egypt and Saudi Arabia).

So as to provide each firm's clients with the broadest possible legal support, we participate in a consortium with two other strategically-located firms. By our working in conjunction with Cameron LLP, with offices in both Washington and New York, and an affiliated office in Santiago, Chile, our clients are provided with full legal capabilities throughout Latin America, while with Smithfield Partners in London they are similarly supported throughout the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.

We maintain state-of-the-art, secure telecommunications capability which permits the seamless transmittal of documents and information between our offices and with our clients in the US and overseas. In connection with our China practice, we have full support and capabilities in written Chinese and spoken capacities in Putonghua and Cantonese.