Rely on the most comprehensive, up-to-date legal content designed and curated by lawyers for lawyers
Work faster and smarter to improve your drafting productivity without increasing risk
Accelerate the creation and use of high quality and trusted legal documents and forms
Streamline how you manage your legal business with proven tools and processes
Manage risk and compliance in your organisation to reduce your risk profile
Stay up to date and informed with insights from our trusted experts, news and information sources
Access the best content in the industry, effortlessly — confident that your news is trustworthy and up to date.
Find up-to-date guidance on points of law and then easily pull up sources to support your advice with Lexis PSL
Check out our straightforward definitions of common legal terms.
Our trusted tax intelligence solutions, highly-regarded exam training and education materials help guide and tutor Tax professionals
Access our unrivalled global news content, business information and analytics solutions
Insurance, risk and compliance intelligence using big data, proprietary linking and advanced analytics.
A leading provider of software platforms for professional services firms
In-depth analysis, commentary and practical information to help you protect your business
LexisNexis Blogs shed light on topics affecting the legal profession and the issues you're facing
Legal professionals trust us to help navigate change. Find out how we help ensure they exceed expectations
Lex Chat is a LexisNexis current affairs podcast sharing insights on topics for the legal profession
Discuss the latest legal developments, ask questions, and share best practice with other LexisPSL subscribers
What are the key things to consider when serving out of jurisdiction? Alvin Aubeeluck, team leader in the Foreign Process Section, discusses the main steps lawyers must take when choosing to serve out of jurisdiction.
The most common pitfall solicitors should bear in mind is the length of time to serve a document. If serving to a non-convention country, service can take a minimum of six months and up to a maximum (and sometimes longer) of four years. This is regularly overlooked—there is then a rush by solicitors to apply for an order extending the life of the claim form, which then needs to be sent to the relevant foreign ministry via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Foreign Process staff can advise solicitors of the average length of time for most countries.
Solicitors should thoroughly read the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, SI 1998/3132, Pt 6.30 (CPR 1998) and Practice Direction 6B. Thereafter solicitors should contact the Foreign Process Section to seek advice as to the requirements in respect of the relevant country.
Reading the CPR 1998 before lodgement will save a lot of time in terms of documents being rejected. A common provision overlooked by solicitors is CPR 1998, Pt 6 PD 6B para 6.1 (Period for responding to a claim form). As it is a mandatory requirement to amend the dates subject to this provision (which can be done by the solicitors clerk if lodged physically) the problem occurs if there is a translated copy. In this case the translated copy has already been certified by a translator and therefore any amendments to the certified translated document should be amended by the translator themselves.
The area will be moving towards electronic service.
Interviewed by Natasha Mellersh. The views expressed by our legal analysis interviewees are not necessarily those of the proprietor.
First published on Lexis®PSL Dispute Resolution. Click here for a free one week trial of Lexis®PSL
Free trials are only available to individuals based in the UK
* denotes a required field
0330 161 1234