For tips on how to Become a Versatile, Flexible, Nimble–and Exceptional–International Lawyer, read my latest article for the international column of The Complete Lawyer online magazine. Click on the links to read the article on the TCL website, or peruse the text below:
Become A Versatile, Flexible, Nimble—And Exceptional—International Lawyer
Adjust your international practice to meet market demands.
By JANET H. MOORE
Become A Versatile, Flexible, Nimble—
And Exceptional—International Lawyer
International lawyers need to spot issues that arise both across jurisdictions and outside their expertise
By Janet H. Moore
Click these links for a specific section or read the entire article below:
- Be Versatile, Flexible and Nimble To Succeed In International Law
- Gain Exposure to Different Legal Systems and Jurisdictions
- Spot Critical Issues
- Adjust Your International Practice To Meet Market Demands
Exceptional international practitioners realize that remaining versatile, flexible and nimble benefits their practice. This versatility helps them resolve client inquiries—even though clear-cut answers across legal systems are often impossible to find. Good international lawyers know how to handle this uncertainty by drawing on their wealth of experience when advising their clients. They are able to notice and analyze important issues in complex international matters, and track down the requisite answers from foreign counsel, original legal sources and other resources.
Law firms are beginning to acknowledge the benefit of such versatility. According to David Morley, Worldwide Managing Partner of the London-based Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy, “…we need to develop versatile lawyers capable of working in more than one discipline. So when a partner has career discussions with an associate who wants to experience other practice areas, we must encourage that where we can.” 1
Gain Exposure To Different Legal Systems and Jurisdictions
How can international practitioners enhance their versatility? Gaining exposure to legal issues in different geographic areas, under different legal systems (such as Sharia and civil law, as well as common law), and in a variety of legal disciplines, will broaden a lawyer’s experience.
As Gerard Meijer, a partner with the Benelux firm NautaDutilh who specializes in international commercial litigation and arbitration notes, “As a litigator, I have become versatile as I have acted in a wide variety of disputes.”
In fact, Gerard’s international practice has exposed him to clients and issues across the world. “We represent a Dutch insurance company in an investment arbitration against the Republic of Poland regarding the Republic of Poland’s refusal to comply with its commitments to transfer shares in a Polish insurance company to our client. We also act for a UK defense company regarding the setting aside of an arbitral award between our client and the Iranian Ministry of Defense. At the moment, I also sit as arbitrator (inter alia in a matter regarding the distribution of professional skates in Korea).”
Like Gerard, many international practitioners handle matters involving a wide variety of jurisdictions. Looking for opportunities to become familiar with the laws of various jurisdictions, and to get some real world experience in those venues, will increase an international lawyer’s effectiveness and prepare him or her for whatever arises.
Salli Swartz, a partner in the Paris-based firm Phillips Geraud Naud & Swartz, often works on complex border transactions involving multiple jurisdictions. As an American trained attorney who now lives and practices in France, Salli specializes in assisting foreign companies investing or otherwise doing business in France. During one transaction she found herself “drafting and negotiating in the English language when I was the only native English speaker present: the others were from 6 different countries with 6 different languages and at least 3 different legal systems and all of them thought that their English was better than mine!! For one simple sentence there were 6 different interpretations of the meaning.” Having an understanding of the laws of these different jurisdictions helped Salli handle this situation with aplomb.
Spot Critical Issues
Becoming versatile as an international lawyer does not mean becoming an expert in multiple fields. No practitioner can master and keep up with the countless legal specialties that exist. However, an international practitioner should try to amass enough knowledge to be able to identify critical issues on a client’s behalf.
Sébastien Savage, who practices in the Montreal office of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, may face hundreds of different issues in any given month, which makes his work challenging and exciting. “Sure, it is stressful,” he says, “but I firmly believe that staying flexible and versatile as an attorney has enhanced my practice, both in terms of the number of clients and in terms of the quality of services delivered.”
Sébastien also stays informed about his clients’ businesses: “I find that the more I know and the better I understand the businesses of my clients, the better equipped I am to face the requirements of evolving in a global economy.”
Lawyers living and working in foreign offices particularly need to be able to spot issues. Rather than remain isolated from the wealth of knowledge in their home offices, these foreign-based attorneys must sharpen their issue-spotting skills so that they can raise red flags when needed.
Once an international attorney spots an important issue outside of her expertise, she must then know how to resolve it. Sometimes this requires bringing in foreign counsel, and perhaps most important, knowing the right questions to ask in order to get a clear response. For example, asking a civil law lawyer questions while using purely common law concepts and lingo will confuse the situation—and may result in an inaccurate or unclear answer. Salli Swartz notes the particular challenge of “trying to explain to American/Anglo Saxon legal systems clients the differences between consequential damages under U.S. law and direct damages under French law…”
Many successful international lawyers improve their understanding by digging into the original legal sources—even those written in foreign languages—rather than relying on secondary translations. Using a dictionary, and comparing an original legal text with multiple English translations of it, can give a lawyer critical insights about what a foreign law really says and means.
Adjust Your International Practice To Meet Market Demands
Sometimes a lawyer plans to develop a particular international specialty, but client and market demands cause the lawyer’s practice to evolve in a different way. A versatile international lawyer is well positioned to respond to these changes. As Ed Lebow, who practices in Haynes & Boone’s Washington, D.C. office, explains, “My college concentration was in Japanese language, history and culture, and that set me up to handle antidumping cases for Japanese clients into the middle 1990’s. However, with the changes in the Japanese economy and the decreasing number of new US antidumping cases brought each year, particularly against the Japanese, I needed some flexibility. For me, that has meant a subtle shift in both my subject matter and geographic emphasis. While I still do handle antidumping and countervailing duty reviews, much of my newer work is in the much more active area of ITC Section 337 investigations that address imports that allegedly infringe US patents. And my clients are now more likely to be located in India (dumping and countervailing duties) and Taiwan (Section 337) than in Japan.”
Having the flexibility and versatility to respond to market changes, as Ed does, helps an international practice thrive even when the market shifts.
In other words, versatility makes a lawyer more attractive to clients. As Gerard Meijer explains, “I really get the impression that clients appreciate that I have been involved in a variety of disputes, which gives the client the confidence that I can make myself familiar with their case.”
After all, that’s what all lawyers strive for: a client’s confidence and satisfaction.
_________
FOOTNOTES
1. “We Listened to Associates. Now Partners have to Do Their Bit”, TheLawyer.com, 23 October 2006.
In the past few weeks I’ve been chatting with superstar, international legal recruiters Michael Ellenhorn of Longbridge and and Nick Rumin of Rumin Legal Search in preparation for an article about lawyers working abroad (forthcoming in the June issue of The Complete Lawyer). They concur that, as always, networking plays an important role in finding a terrific job and cultivating clients in any new market.
One of my favorite books on networking is Keith Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone, in part because it encourages people to help others rather than focusing on helping themselves. (Caveat: Some of the specific networking techniques taught in this book are very direct, US-style strategies, which would be perceived as too aggressive in some other cultures.) This other-centered approach to making connections is more effective–and frankly more pleasant–than a self-centered one. The payoff may not be immediate, but the results are deeper and longer lasting because true relationships–rather than superficial ones–are being built.
I ran across a post on Keith Ferrazzi’s blog by someone who had build his network in another city well before relocating there and simultaneously changing careers; his network proved invaluable. The same holds true of any international move. As international lawyers well know, in many countries, cultivating deep personal relationships is often a prerequisite to any business being done. A lawyer who wants to relocate abroad will also need such relationships.
So, whether you are a law student aspiring to work abroad down the road, or an experienced international practitioner wanting to develop more clients abroad, develop–and maintain–your international network well before you actually need it. Meet people (co-workers, clients, colleagues and the like); build substantial relationships; and consciously nurture those across the miles over the years.
When you speak professionally, prepare thoroughly–not just your content, visuals and delivery—but also your attire. Clients and colleagues will form an impression of you from your speech–and also from how you look. Make it a favorable one.
A few days ago, I attended a large conference, and watched a female professional in her early 50’s address a crowd of several thousand. She happened to be petite, which was a disadvantage because the large podium seemed to swallow her. However, this was the least of her problems.
Unfortunately, she chose to wear a pale pink sweater in lieu of a more traditional jacket. She also clipped the front of her hair up with a barrette, in the way that many young girls do. The result? Although she spoke about leadership, she didn’t look like a leader–at all. And the audience didn’t pay attention–at all.
Had her content and presentation been engaging and powerful, they might have compensated for her appearance. As it was, her attire compounded the problem, “branding” her as a non-leader.
Your appearance matters. Check your attire with a trusted colleague or two before you mount the platform. Think about the color and cut of your outfit, whether there is too much pattern, and whether it is fashionable enough to be visually interesting or too staid and boring.
Then, mount the platform with confidence!
If a reporter called you today, would you respond well?
Earlier this week I observed an engaging and dynamic media training seminar conducted by The Ammerman Experience. Ken Haseley, Senior Counselor with Ammerman, shared invaluable tips on how to make media interviews successful. (Thanks, Ken, for an excellent presentation!)
Ken Haseley stressed the importance of going into an interview with your own agenda in mind–a list of points that you want to get across. Don’t let the reporter completely control the interview. Rather, during the interview, look for opportunities to segue to one of your key messages–and then use tight, crisp and memorable sentences to communicate it.
As mentioned in this blog before, stories can really vitalize mundane messages. Ken similarly recommends using stories, anecdotes, analogies, examples, illustrations and compelling data. These “sparklers” (as Ken aptly called them) will make your points memorable; because they are so interesting, the press very well may quote them.
And, as noted in Tips for Lawyers on Working with the Press, don’t just sit back and wait for a reporter to contact you. Articulate your points, make them memorable with good stories, and pitch them to appropriate media sources.
Yesterday I was proud to launch the International Department of The Complete Lawyer (an online magazine for lawyers) with my article on how to Avoid Cross Cultural Communication Snafus. Stay tuned for my article in the next edition about how international lawyers must remain professionally versatile and flexible.
