We began by asking ourselves a series of questions to help define our goal, chart the path to achieve it, and think about how we would overcome the challenges that stood in our way. We define an international lawyer (in simpler terms) as someone who works with clients, transactions and disputes that relate to more than one jurisdiction. Other common career paths for graduates include working for companies with offices abroad or working as a government lawyer. This may be a good option once you have established experience in a practice area and have accumulated a client base, but most young lawyers will find that large firms offer more opportunities to participate in important cross-border work. Support lawyers in their work, such as drafting documents and collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information.
Allen & Overy, for example, has done very solid work in the area of cross-border financing with a US component and has succeeded in making the transition of American lawyers to this type of work during periods of slowdown in stock market work. Being an international lawyer involves, in part, studying the way in which lawyers practice law around the world and trying to apply the ideas and innovations of other cultures. On the other hand, many lawyers who manage to create a strong international profile do so in a small but successful law firm, or even work alone. On the contrary, a career in international law provides a means of standing out from the crowd in a field where there are so many lawyers.
One of the challenges to be faced as a budding international lawyer is the ongoing reform of the profession as a whole around the world. Being an international lawyer means having to work with different business cultures and finding a way to achieve client objectives while taking into account different work practices around the world. An international lawyer deals with clients from several countries and, therefore, must be well aware of the social and political dynamics of these countries and also be able to communicate with them in a language in which clients feel comfortable. In other words, being an international lawyer isn't just another type of lawyer, such as a labor lawyer or a criminal defense attorney.
So how do lawyers prepare for the new reality and how do they prepare for the future? Professor Susskind identifies three areas where lawyers must adapt their behaviors if they are to thrive in the new era. It's important to note that the fact that a given foreign office of a U.S. firm needs U.S. attorneys is a product of the type of work performed by the firm.
However, it is worth remembering that those who want to work as lawyers usually obtain their initial legal qualification and work first to develop excellence in their professional work, and then they may choose to return to studying for a master's degree later in their career.
