News & Events
News
Counting down the days until The International Bar Association's IBA 2023 Annual Conference from October 29 - November 3 at the Palais des Congrès de Paris in Paris, France! Looking forward to connecting with fellow professionals, gaining new insights, attending thought-provoking sessions, and building valuable relationships.
Last week's IBA Conference in Miami did not disappoint! pictured below: me, outdoor reception generously sponsored by large German law firm, Signing of cooperation protocol between the Paris Bar and the International Committee of the Florida Bar Association Dinner table at the annual dinner of the International Sales Committee. #ibamiami
Mr. Thal will represent his law firm Offit Kurman at the Annual Gala Dinner of the German American Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday evening, October 29, 2022 and at the Annual Conference of the International Bar Association in Miami Beach, Florida beginning Sunday October 30, 2022. At the Annual IBA Conference some 6000 attorneys from all over the World are expected to attend.
I'm back to a busy international travel schedule and was pleased to have recently attended the European Lawyers' Association in Brussels. Pictured below at the annual board meeting with lawyers from about 12 European countries and with Maria Slazak, the president of the ELA.
During 2020 Steven Thal was elected as a shareholder in the law firm of Offit Kurman. My Thal directs the German practice at the firm. Offit Kurman has offices in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina and South Carolina.
Past Events
On April 1, 2019 Mr. Thal and his German Practice Group joined the law firm of Offit Kurman P.A. with offices in NewYork, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and the D.C.
On December 2, 2017 the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote an article on the proposed Bankruptcy Court settlement in the long-running battle to recover the finder’s fee for Mr. Thal’s German client Armin Augstein involving rap musician Ryan Leslie’s stolen lap top. In a very long article under the headline below, it quotes Mr. Thal:
“Agreement in the dispute over a finder’s fee reward” 
“ ‘We are glad that our client will get at least a significant part of his legal reward after a long, difficult fight’, said Steven Thal to this newspaper, Head of the German Group at the New York law firm Phillips Nizer. “
Landesbank Baden Württemberg quoted Steven Thal in its newsletter to customers. Here is an excerpt:
There are many differences between the legal system in the USA and that in Europe. Steven H. Thal, who is an attorney with the legal firm Phillips Nizer in New York, explains two typical examples:
- Foreign in one’s own country: The character of Federalism in the USA has implications for businesses that are incorporated in one US state while conducting business in another US state. Such businesses are considered foreign outside the US state in which they are incorporated. In order to be legally allowed to do business somewhere else in the US the business – depending on the type and volume of business activities – must be registered in that state. Otherwise there is the risk of being fined up to $10.000.
- Security: Often German businesses ask their attorneys in the US to provide security for loans either through transfers by way of security or through title retention for not fully paid merchandise. The German pledged property is however unknown in the USA. Here a buyer always acquires absolute property rights. Businesses have to publicly register security interests through a “UCC-1 Financing Statement” – similar to a land register entry in Germany.
The entire newsletter is available for download here. Mr. Thal is featured on page 7.
On June 4, 2019, Mr. Thal was invited to attend the Deutsch-Amerikanischer Wirtschaftstag in Potsdam, Germany. This all-day Program sponsored by the German American Chamber of Commerce and the Industrie und Handelskammer Potsdam brought together German and U.S. Government representatives as well as German and US businesses to discuss current opportunities and concerns in bilateral trade and investment between the two countries. Mr. Thal regularly attends this annual event held in different German cities.
In October 2018, Mr. Thal attended the annual meeting of the International Bar Association in Rome, which was attended by some 6000 global attorneys from almost every country for one week.
In November 2017 Mr. Thal joined with Landesbank Baden Württemberg and the international accounting firm Rödl & Partner in speaking engagements on the subject of “Financing U.S. Business Operations”. These seminars were held in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Munich and Karlsruhe.
On February 23rd, 2017 Mr. Thal participated as a speaker in a panel discussion (in the German language) with German law professors Leenen (Berlin) and Leuschner (Osnabrueck) at a seminar sponsored by the German American Lawyers Association in Berlin. The subject of the program was:
(„Die Anwendung von AGBs auf B2B Verkaufstransaktionen - ein Vergleich zwischen den US und deutschen Rechtssystemen“)
Steven Thal addressed a banking seminar in March 2014, in Vienna on the subject of "Special Considerations under American Business Law: Chances and Risks"
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Mr. Thal was for many years the Organizer of the German Entrepreneurs Meetup Group for young German venturers in New York and the group’s first meeting was held at the Bierhaus in New York on January 17, 2013.
