moved to Taiwan to be near my wife’s family and so we could afford to be full-time parents for a while. Af- ter a few months, I started providing training and project-management services to an Indian legal-process outsourcing company, which included running some Chinese-language reviews in Taiwan. A little over two years ago I helped to found Global Colleague.
What has been your experience working in other countries?
I‘ve spent much of the past four years in India setting up and managing legal-support operations in Pune. Pune is a great location featuring good weather, a lower cost of living and less congestion than cities like Mumbai (Bombay) or Bangaluru (Banglore), and a number of excellent Universities providing a deep pool of legal and IT talent.
Pune, which is often referred to as lectual, college-town atmosphere, good book stores, restaurants, pubs, structure issues can, however, be services I take for granted in the ful planning in India and you have dancies into your infrastructure. team who have done a superb job
What was the toughest lesson to learn?
I tend to be direct in my communications, even by American standards. Tat doesn’t go over very well in Taiwan. I’ve had to learn to be more patient in my business dealings here and seek trusted advisors to decode certain communications. After a few years its easy to believe you “get” the culture, but the habits, preferences, and prejudices we grow up with are not easily shed. I rely on Taiwanese colleagues, friends, and relatives to give me frequent reality checks.
Are you in Taiwan permanently?
I have no plans to leave Taiwan in near future, but "permanently"? I don't know. Wherever the future finds me, I'll always have at least one foot in Formosa.
What are the differences in business protocols? In Taiwan, business relationships take longer to build and require more socializing than in the United States. Communication is less direct than the United States and legal formalities are valued far less than personal relationships. But there are also little differences that take time to adjust to. For example, voice mail just isn't used. Client's won't leave a voice message and will rarely, if ever, check their voice mail, if they even have it. E-mail, while ubiquitous, is not used as a form of instant communication as it is in the United States. If you want a quick response, you need to call or send an SMS.
Tell us about the e-Discovery and litigation support biz in Taiwan.
Tere isn’t much of a litigation support industry in Taiwan. Tere are companies providing computer forensic services (though much of this work is still done by forensics experts from Singapore, Hong Kong, or Aus- tralia) but that is about it. Most law firms are small, compared to U.S. firms and have not invested much in technology. Local firms that have case-management software tend to be home grown. I can’t speak directly to trial presentation technology but given the lack of a jury system, I’d expect that it doesn’t play as large of a role in Taiwan litigation as it does in U.S. litigation.
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the “Oxford of the East” has an intel- which I really enjoy. It is easy to find and plenty of great conversation. Infra- a challenge. Some of the utilities and United States and Taiwan require care- to invest a lot more into building redun- I’m fortunate to work with an excellent keeping everything humming along.
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