Legal services in Iran for foreign clients
What follows is what we are actually instructed to do, described plainly. If your situation is not here, it is still worth asking — the boundary is whether the matter has an Iranian forum, not whether it fits a category.
Who we act for
Three kinds of client reach us from outside Iran, and what each needs from a Tehran firm is different.
Foreign companies
A counterparty that stopped paying, a joint venture in dispute, a contract that has to be enforced somewhere. Usually the question is where the claim belongs and what the documents will support.
Individuals and families
An estate, a property, a marriage or divorce that has to take effect in two countries. Often the client has never lived in Iran and cannot read the documents in question.
Lawyers outside Iran
Firms advising their own client who need Iranian law addressed properly: a written opinion, local counsel on the record, or someone to carry the Iranian half of a cross-border matter.
What we are instructed to do
The boundary is not whether your situation fits a category. It is whether the matter has an Iranian forum — a court, an authority, a register, or an asset that sits inside the country.
Court representation
Bringing and defending claims, through to appeal. In Iran the same lawyer usually carries a matter from first filing to enforcement, so the person arguing it is the person who knows it.
Commercial disputes
Debt recovery, contract claims, shareholder and joint-venture disagreements, and arbitration where the contract provides for it.
Inheritance and estates
Establishing heirs, identifying what the deceased held in Iran, and dealing with property, accounts and business interests. Foreign heirs can inherit; attendance in person is usually not required.
Real property
Title checks before a purchase, disputes over possession, sale on behalf of an owner abroad, and landlord and tenant matters.
Family matters
Marriages and divorces concluded abroad that must be recognised or registered in Iran, custody and maintenance across two systems, and the Iranian effect of a foreign order.
Foreign judgments and awards
Assessing whether a judgment or arbitral award obtained abroad can be given effect in Iran, and pursuing it where it can. Iran is a party to the New York Convention on arbitral awards.
Local counsel and opinions
Written opinions on points of Iranian law for firms advising their own clients, and acting as local counsel where a foreign firm leads.
Debt and asset recovery
Establishing what a debtor holds in Iran and what can realistically be reached, before anyone spends money finding out the hard way.
Does your matter belong in an Iranian forum?
This is the question worth settling first, because it decides whether you need us at all. A rough test:
Iranian counsel is needed when
- The asset — property, an account, a company share — is in Iran.
- The obligation was to be performed in Iran.
- An Iranian court, registry or authority has to act before anything changes.
- A foreign judgment or award now has to be given effect against someone in Iran.
- A status recorded in Iran must be changed: a marriage, a divorce, an estate.
It may not be, when
- The counterparty and every asset sit outside Iran.
- Your contract sends disputes to a foreign court or arbitral seat and the other side will comply.
- What you need is advice on your own country’s law about dealing with Iran.
If you are unsure, that uncertainty is itself worth an email. Telling you the matter does not need an Iranian lawyer costs you nothing and takes us ten minutes.
For firms outside Iran
We act as local counsel and provide written opinions on Iranian law. Correspondence is in English, deadlines are ours to hold, and we are used to reporting into a foreign firm’s file rather than running the client relationship ourselves.
Tell us what happened
Describe the matter in a few lines and we will tell you whether it is something we can act on, what it would involve, and what we would need from you.
Contact the firm