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Our Attorneys & Our Success
Our lawyers are goal oriented and will directly communicate verbally with representatives of the commercial debtor in an effort to recover and collect on the debt prior to litigation. Lawyers who focus on our recovery methodology enjoy a superior success rate. In addition, our lawyers recover more money when successful. If litigation is required, through our methodology, our lawyers are able to build an assessment of the debtor's case and the recoverability of the debt prior to commencing litigation. As such, in litigation our attorneys maximize the recovery rate. In the alternative, litigation is not commenced in many cases in which our lawyers ascertain, through our methodology, that a collection will not be achieved. This may be as a result of the fortitude of the debtor's case or more often insufficient liquidity or pending insolvency of the commercial debtor.
Although the focus of our business is debt recovery in Canada and USA, our reach is truly worldwide with our lawyers achieving successful results in Europe, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere. However, cases outside of North America differ greatly to those in North America where our lawyers can proceed to litigation with intransigent debtors if necessary and recover through litigation. As explained below, in most of our cases globally formal litigation is impractical for a host of reasons outlined below. Nevertheless, it is possible to recover on many cases through our lawyers' extra judicial methods and legal tactics outside of litigation. Part of our service is to inform the creditors as to what if anything can be achieved and prevent futile and expensive litigation.
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- Personnel
Personnel at Greenwood International manage the flow of debt recovery received from Collection Agencies to be placed with our attorneys for collection activity. Under the guidance of our principal and seasoned commercial & debt recovery attorney, Mr. Anthony Greenwood, our internal attorney management team forms the group that interact directly with Forwarders and Collection Agencies. At first instance we ensure that an Acknowledgement of receipt of each file with some basic comments is transmitted by fax forthwith upon receipt of the particular file. Beyond this the role of the attorney management team is twofold: first, to ensure that the information provided to our attorneys is attorney user friendly; and second, to ensure that the attorneys and assistants are constantly "working the file" and actively pursuing debtors and internal reports generated for supervised and regular reporting to the forwarders / Collection Agencies. Communication with attorneys internationally is facilitated by multilingual staff that is versed in many languages including: Spanish, Italian, French and German. Often however, the breakdown with attorneys internationally is more cultural than linguistic.
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Relationships
Greenwood International enjoys relationships with attorneys worldwide. In North America (Canada) the primary relationship is with the
Toronto, Canada based law firm of Greenwoods under the management of our principal and senior attorney Anthony Greenwood. At
Greenwoods, the initial role of collections is to recover debts expeditiously without resorting to litigation. The attorneys provide their
initial report so that Greenwood International may provide the initial collections report in a timely manner with an initial
recommendation for litigation or recoverability without litigation.
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- Methodology - Extra judicial Attorney Demands
Mr. Greenwood is renowned for his negotiating skills, problem solving and result orientation. Mr. Greenwood's philosophy pervades
through our firm culture. Accordingly, our lawyers' emphasis is on dispute resolution and the goal of debt recovery as opposed to
protracted litigation. As such, our attorney debt recovery team is encouraged ab initio to "work" the file for 30-90 days prior to
recommending the matter for litigation or closure. Our experience is that many of the files are more recoverable through our
negotiating and extra-judicial attorney efforts then actual litigation even in Canada and North America. In many cases where the debtor
remains operational and liquid, the threat or anticipation by the debtor of the creditor's litigation often results in more rapid recovery than
actual litigation. In addition, where recovery is not possible outside of formal litigation, by following the aforementioned
methodology our attorneys are able to obtain a clear or clearer profile of the debtor and can provide far more accurate estimates as to the
likelihood of recovery prior to commencing formal litigation. In this manner, we are able to recommend closure of files in which the
debtor is insolvent, though not necessarily bankrupt. As such we are able to prevent creditors from expending monies on futile litigation.
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- Debtor Payments, Remittances & International Banking
At Greenwood International we endeavor to conduct a monthly accounting of incoming debtor payments prior to the end of each
calendar month so that remittances can be forwarded monthly. Timing of remittances will also depend on the economics and substance
of the payments and Greenwood International will always endeavor to accommodate requests for an earlier remittance in special
circumstances. Since for the most part our attorneys recover payments outside of the USA domestic banking system and often in
currencies other than US dollars. Greenwood International will nevertheless (unless instructed otherwise) remit in US dollars and assure
that the recipient is provided with an instrument that will immediately be credited to the recipient's bank account, usually in the USA,
and not be placed on "collection". In addition Greenwood International and Greenwoods have developed a myriad of excellent
relationships with international banks to facilitate a rapid flow of funds commencing at recovery from the debtor into a multi currency
bank account (usually by wire transfer) controlled by us with expedited conversion into a US dollar check drawn on any one of the major
USA domestic banks for delivery to the creditor or its agent for collection. In this regard, upon forwarding our Acknowledgement of a
new file Greenwood International will usually forward an Authorization and Direction for Payment for execution by an authorized
representative of the creditor, which provides our attorneys with the necessary authorization to approach the international debtor and
properly direct the flow of funds where recovered.
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- Litigation Risks Internationally - Costs & Security for Costs
Risks of litigation to creditors internationally are extreme as the system can be conveniently manipulated by the experienced debtor to frustrate the recovery of debt by creditors.
One favorite tactic of debtors internationally is the use of the security for litigation costs rules as a weapon to thwart creditors. In most jurisdictions a defending party can apply to the Court to compel a foreign plaintiff creditor to pay into court a sum that often reflects a substantial proportion of the debt in question as "security" for debtor's attorney costs.
In many jurisdictions the Court is not obliged to investigate the merits of the case (or the lack of the merits of the debtor's defense/denial/counterclaim) prior to making the award. Furthermore, Court costs are often ongoing and in some jurisdictions can be as ludicrous as the requirement of the payment of a Court representative (e.g. in Spain the procurator) to interpose between creditor's attorney and the Judge. (hide...)
- Pro-Active Role of the Court
In addition, the procedural elements in many non common law jurisdictions is such that a Court may often deny admission of the suit if substantive supportive documentation is not produced prior to commencing legal action. Unlike common law jurisdictions in many international jurisdictions the Court plays an active role in scrutinizing the suit. Invoices are not sufficient. Bills of lading and/or some other form of proof of delivery are imperative. As a practical matter, however, unless there is an acknowledgement of debt the procedural hurdles may be too great to pursue a matter through litigation. (hide...)
- Consularization
The requirement that all documents have the applicable apostil recognized by the Court and Government in the local jurisdiction (e.g. Chile, Argentina, Brazil) represents another hurdle. Greenwood International has made special arrangements with many Consulates in Latin America and elsewhere to recognize our own attorneys' signatures and apostil without requiring the personal attendance of the creditor's representative. This arrangement is known in our office as the Landau Maneuver named after our attorney in Brazil who initially suggested the approach to the Consulates. (hide...)
- Lack of Rule of Law
Many international jurisdictions simply have no formal rule of law as we understand it in North America and the First World. Accordingly, the Court system may simply not be a medium through which creditors can recover and negotiate settlement and local "influence", the only medium for recovery. (hide...)
© 2006 Greenwood International