In 1991, the Frankfurt partnership Kolonko & Hey set up, together with offices from other countries specialised in trade law, the ADLAW® network in London.

Today, this amalgamation comprises offices specialised in trade law from the following countries:

	Argentina (Buenos Aires)		India (New Delhi)
	Australia (St. Leonards)		Italy (Milan / Turin)
	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)		Poland (Warszawa)
	Canada (Toronto)		Netherlands (Amsterdam)
	China (Hong Kong / Beijing / Shanghai)		Norway (Oslo)
	Denmark (Copenhagen)		Sweden (Stockholm)
	England (London)		Switzerland (Zurich)
	France (Paris)		Spain (Madrid)
	Germany (Frankfurt)		USA (Washington)

The cause for forming this network was the fact that companies that advertise often face difficulties, when drawing up frontier-crossing advertising campaigns, in seeking competent legal advice within a very brief period of time and at costs which are calculable in advance. Even the search for experienced lawyers in the individual countries where the campaign is supposed to run is most time-consuming, just as are negotiations with the lawyer's offices in the individual countries regarding the issue of payment. Particularly in the advertising sector, time is, however, of great importance.

The aim of ADLAW® is to offer, rapidly and through a single main channel, competent legal advice from various countries at costs that can be calculated in advance. The client contacts his/her national ADLAW® office, which is then responsible for obtaining individual, national legal opinions via the ADLAW® network, in accordance with fixed rules and within the shortest possible period, as well as at costs calculated in advance, which are then analysed and the result is passed on to the client.

The legal advice offered by the ADLAW® network has, in the meantime, proved a success in other legal spheres lying beyond that of advertising law: the network offers international advice in practically all legal fields.

As a result of the success that has arisen from this idea, the network has grown since it was first established eight years ago, and today has 14 European and overseas members, whereby each member is selected (only one lawyer's office from each country) primarily on the basis of being able to demonstrate many years' proven experience and intensive practice in advertising law. As a rule, ADLAW® members therefore constitute the lawyer's offices which offer advice to the national association of advertising agencies or leading agencies as well as companies which advertise in their own country.

Secretary of the ADLAW® network is
Charles Swan
SwanTurton
68a Neal Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9PA
Direct: +44 20 7520 9560
Mobile: +44 7714 683060
Fax: +44 20 7520 9556
www.swanturton.com
e-mail: charles.swan@swanturton.com.

The ADLAW® network holds an annual conference on current legal issues that are of international interest.

ADLAW® is a registered trademark of the Frankfurt lawyer's office Kolonko, Hey and Partners, and is nationally registered in Germany and internationally registered in Austria, Benelux, Spain, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland and Hungary. In other countries, the network operates solely under the name "Advertising Law International".

You will soon be able to get more information on the homepage of "Advertising Law International" under www.advertisinglawyers.com. We will inform you in time.