The Future of Law is International

The day is fast approaching when an American law student will not be able to find a job working as an attorney unless he or she has a basic working knowledge of international law and a basic fluency in a foreign language. Consequently, international law courses will someday soon be mandatory and the study of a foreign language will be expected in every ABA approved law school. The following post by What About Clients described how the practice of law is increasingly international:

Lawyers sell services--and services are increasingly sold across international borders. In fact, services generally are becoming the new game. In 2004, services, sold alone or as support features to the sale of good and products, accounted for over 65% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the US, 50% of the United Kingdom's GDP and 90% of Hong Kong's. Our clients sell both goods and services. The growing "global economy", the expansion of the services sector, the Internet and the resulting ability to partner with people and entities all over the world permit our smallest clients to do business abroad. And lawyers in all jurisdictions can act for interests outside their borders. You, me, our clients and our partners are now international players. Every day we meet new ideas, new markets, new regulatory schemes, new traders and new customs. Our new world may not be exactly "flat" yet. But it's certainly become busier and smaller very quickly.

China Law Blog also recently made a post entitled, "China As Lawyers Paradise". This post pointed out that most people think there are too many lawyers in America, but the opinion in China is that there are not enough! The author, Dan Harris, contemplatively asked how many of the approximately 190,000 practicing attorneys in California are studying Mandarin?

My response is that there are not enough, but any law student in the US that hopes to have a lucrative and enthralling career needs to have their eye on the international market.

Comments

[China Law Blog]

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[Patrick Carney & Edith Carney]

Wonderful. It looks great, and we look forward to reading the content.