InternationalLiving.com

Joel M. Nagel

Joel M. Nagel is founder and managing partner of the international law firm of Nagel & Associates, LLC. The firm is Pittsburgh’s first law boutique focusing exclusively on international commercial transactions and immigration.

With offices in Pittsburgh, Nagel & Associates has grown 30-fold in business activity since its inception in 1992. In addition to his work as a lawyer, Mr. Nagel is known as a visionary and dealmaker providing international business leverage for leading corporations, entrepreneurs, and individuals.

Among Mr. Nagel’s recent accomplishments is structuring a 2,500-acre international hotel resort complex in Nicaragua for an investor group. He also has structured a three-acre boutique resort in Ambergris Caye, Belize; helped create the first African and Central American motorbus distribution facility for a major U.S. bus line; and established worldwide financial institutions for banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, and mutual funds.

Sought for his entrepreneurial instincts, Mr. Nagel serves on the boards of 15 client companies and is involved with strategic planning initiatives directed toward growth and “best practices” management. With an investor’s perspective, Mr. Nagel also has helped fund technology ventures. He serves on the advisory board of the Western Pennsylvania Adventure Capital Fund, which invests in early-stage, mostly technology companies in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Much of Mr. Nagel’s focus is on helping clients select the right jurisdiction for a transaction and the best vehicle to reduce taxation and protect assets, such as joint ventures and other international legal structures. In Belize, he has pioneered the licensing of international structures for foreign banks, mutual funds, hedge funds, and insurance companies. He created the firm’s Personal Asset Protection Program and has developed sophisticated international estate plans encompassing trusts, corporations, partnerships, and insurance products.

Mr. Nagel has been quoted in U.S. News & World Report on the benefits of retiring abroad. He has authored articles for International Living magazine, The Oxford Club, Island Properties and Hemispheres newsletter, and has lectured at conferences and seminars sponsored by the Central American International Investment Symposium, International Living, Assetstrategies.com, The Oxford Club, The Sovereign Society, The Hermitage Forum, and The Money Expo.

In 2001-2002, Mr. Nagel was president of the Rotary Club of Pittsburgh. During his tenure, the club launched the widely publicized, first annual “Ducky Derby” to raise funds for charity. He also helped solicit donations and land for the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic in LaReforma, Nicaragua, to serve thousands of underprivileged citizens. In 2005-2006, Mr. Nagel served as regional district governor for the 53 Rotary Clubs in western Pennsylvania, where he helped spearhead philanthropic projects all over the world, was a leader in the Hurricane Katrina disaster recovery effort, and helped launch a teen leadership program to fight the spread of drugs. His efforts also helped raise over $2 million for Rotary charities.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Nagel was an attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll, one of the nation’s largest law firms. Previously, he served in the Office of the Chief Counsel for International Commerce of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He also completed a clerkship at the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels, Directorate-General’s Office for Competition. Mr. Nagel is a former Fulbright Scholar and studied law in Europe. He speaks fluent German.