Ms Fiona Duffy:

As a cautious solicitor, I would not recommend anything to anybody. Generally, people come to me having made up their minds about where they think they would want to go, but I have had experiences recently where people have come to me intending to go to a jurisdiction with which I am not familiar. I know people who practise in this area worldwide, so I will generally communicate with them and see whether anybody has experience with the area or country in question. Depending on the feedback I get, I will decide whether to go forward with the client. In one recent case, I got very negative feedback on a certain country, so I passed that on to the client, who said they would go somewhere else instead.

If it is a jurisdiction I have not previously worked with, I will let the clients know that. Having satisfied myself that it probably has a regime, I will generally advise clients they will have to get an independent lawyer there who can give us an opinion on the law. Obviously, if we are presenting a case to the court, we have to be satisfied that what has happened there is per the law there. Invariably, therefore, we get an opinion of law and, if necessary, an affidavit of law.