Careers in International Law
and styles of negotiation, in a real private interna- tional law practice.
What recommendations do you have for recent gradu- ates pursuing a position in private international law?
I think the days when it was a requirement to start at a private law firm and then move in-house may be over. I would recommend that students look very hard at law firms and try to understand what amount of international business they really have, and what the character of the work is: e.g., international trade, cross-border M&A, interna- tional arbitration, etc. Differences in the kind of work they do will determine the extent to which young lawyers are really exposed to private inter- national law issues, or are just advising U.S. law “to” foreign persons. At the same time, I think graduating students should also look at in-house establishments at corporations and private invest- ment funds. The irony is that you may get better exposure to private international law issues from the client side - for example, multinational cor- porations or investment funds - than from a law firm. This is because so much of transactional le- gal practice has become commoditized and effec- tively fungible. Specific international knowledge and experience is as likely to exist, and be relied upon, in-house rather than in the law firm, unless of course the law firm is highly specialized in a foreign jurisdiction.
What are the emerging areas in private international law?
I think cross-border M&A transactions that really require knowledge of two of more domestic legal systems are a real growth area where lawyers have tremendous opportunities to add value. For instance if a lawyer is involved in a transaction where there is a Chinese buyer and the consid- eration is the U.S.-registered stock of a Japanese subsidiary of the Chinese buyer. Then there is go- ing to be significant Chinese, Japanese and U.S. (SEC) corporate and securities regulation issues. If you are the lawyer involved in such a transac-
tion, you need to have deep knowledge of the corporate and securities laws of China and Japan, and U.S. securities regulation, at the very least. In the past, even in designing and negotiating such a complex deal, a U.S. lawyer really didn’t feel the need to understand other countries’ laws and regulations. People felt they only needed a handle on U.S. securities regulation, whereup- on you would hire local counsel to issue a very simple opinion with respect to the legal author- ity, etc.. That’s clearly not the case anymore, and thus there is real demand for well-trained legal professionals who understand, for example, the corporate and securities law systems of other na- tional jurisdictions.
How does the growth of private international law affect the rule of law in a country?
My personal view is that the effect is direct and very important. Once you have legal profession- als from what are called “developed” jurisdic- tions practicing in developing nations which are trying to transition to a more “modern” economy and legal system, and those professionals work to negotiate enforceable contracts and delineate and transact in property rights, that is the begin- ning of a much grander process where the host jurisdiction comes to grapple with those very im- portant aspects of rule of law.
I think lawyers must have an understanding of the political and governance system that they are active in. There is an obligation on the part of legal professionals in any country to be aware and try to strengthen the rule of law in that jurisdiction. Many people think that a lawyer in an exotic lo- cale is basically a connection agent, or someone who knows the right person to talk to, or the right people to bribe. My view of what lawyers do is this: they look at the relevant enforceable norms and functioning institutions in any country, and work with them in a transparent and objective way to serve their clients’ interests. But, along- side their duty to serve their client’s interest, they
ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 2 » December 2011
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