How do I select a legal advisor for a global web 2.0 website geography-wise?

I’d appreciate some advice on selecting a legal advisor geography-wise.

I am in the process of developing a globally oriented Web 2.0 site. I am based in Australia and we are incorporating in Australia. I will own 90 percent of the company, and an investor will own 10% (with an option for the investor to convert his shareholding to a loan payable from company profits). The investor is residenced in Asia and lives in the USA.

I am seeking a legal advisor initially to do the following:

• finalise the shareholder agreement
• create terms of use and a privacy policy
• file an international trademark for the name

I’d be more than happy to engage more than one advisor for the different tasks.

Given my circumstances, I have a couple of questions:

1. For the terms of use / privacy policy and the trademark filing, I am considering using a legal advisor from Elance. There are a couple of very highly rated and recommended US-based providers who sound like they would be perfect for my needs. Is there any reason at all, given my business is a global website, that I should use a local Australian-based advisor instead of a US-based advisor for these tasks?
2. For the shareholder agreement, would it be more prudent to select an Australian legal advisor? As I mentioned, the business will be incorporated in Australia. I am planning to use a template from Business In A Box to start with, and then get that tailored for us.

Thanks in advance for any help. Trish

Ok, you are NOT a global business. It is irrelevant for the stuff you discuss where your visitors come from, the ONLY thing is where you incorporate, pay corporate taxes etc.

So, get soemone from close by (!) in australia and have him do your bidding.

Agreed- you are an Australian entity.

Get an Australian lawyer first.

If your company does business (has sales to customers or has employees or the like) in other countries, then consider getting lawyers in those other countries. Your investor may push to have documents governed by US law and subject to US jurisdiction (or Asian), but not your problem for now.

I think an Australian lawyer can do everything you have described.

You should definitely have your shareholders agreement drawn up by an Australian lawyer since the shareholders are in Australia. They could also do your terms of use and privacy policy (or modify something you already have.)

As for your trademarking & IP protection, that is something you want to get right and for that reason I, personally, wouldn't be comfortable in using someone on eLance. Any good IP lawyer here should be able to help you protect your IP globally. I would be looking for recommendations from other Australian entrepreneurs about someone to use for this. Going to a networking event such as the Hive (depending where you live) would be a great place to start asking these kind of questions and collecting names.

As mentioned in one of the other posts is you need to create contracts between entities in different countries, you may need to source someone outside Australia.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I understand the principle that you are suggesting - be legally protected in the country I'm incorporated in, notwithstanding the location of my website's users.

I have a couple of Australian lawyers in mind, most definitely for the shareholders agreement, but also for the TOC/Privacy policies.

I also understand the concern about Elance. Leaving the method of finding the advisor aside, I'm wondering what particular reasons there are for having an Australian lawyer submit the global tradmark application.

Trish

My trademark knowledge is limited, but your Australian counsel can file the trademark application in Australia and should be able to recommend firms in other countries for filing the trademark applications overseas.