A former Australian lawyer and barrister who now runs a global legal recruitment and consultancy agency has returned home to Australia to launch the agency here.

Beatrice O’Brien, who is currently based in New York and Shanghai, is visiting Australia this week to officially launch Attorney Consulting Services International (ACSI) Sydney office. The legal consulting firm provides companies with access to top lawyers throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Middle East and Africa, as well as in Australia. Its global network comprises of more than 100,000 lawyers from 200 law firms across the globe.

ACSI is designed to assist companies seeking legal advice in a foreign market in securing the best legal talent for their needs. “We’re delighted to be able to offer what we believe is an extremely important advisory resource to any Australian company seeking to negotiate a way through the often bewildering, and incredibly expensive, international legal landscape,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien says ACSI already works with more than 100 clients in the Australian and New Zealand market, but as a result of the confidential nature of projects ASCI's clients and law firms cannot be named. “We cover a broad spectrum of industries,” said O’Brien. “Pharma, IT, manufacturing, finance, automotive, travel and tourism, these are only a few that come to mind.  In terms of the network of member lawyers and firms they are anywhere from small/mid to large law firms globally.”

With expertise across a broad spectrum of industries and many types of businesses ACSI offers Australian and New Zealand corporates looking to undertake business overseas knowledge of local social, political and legal systems, along with technical knowledge, according to O’Brien. “ACSI delivers clients the best lawyers at highly competitive, below-market level pricing structures to control and mitigate unpredictable costs, allowing clients to focus on what’s most important: their business,” O’Brien said.

ACSI’s Advisory Board comprises of Australian barrister and ex-judge Tim Hale QC who is based in Sydney, international financial services advisor of over 15 years’ experience James Boland, based in New York and Jack Shi, an advocate of 20 years’ standing based in China. The agency now has offices in Hong Kong, London, New York, Shanghai and Sydney.