Globalization & Legal Industry's Future Forum

[niketown3000]

Hello,

I am preparing to take the LSAT in June (if I am not ready I will take it in October to apply this cycle). I have a 3.389 LSDAS GPA and am scoring about 173. I have a BS & MS in biochemistry. I recently recieved a research position at a biotech company that I will do for 1-2 years before either JD or MBA.

I want to do biotech transactional law as an in-house counsel at a top biotech company (Pfizer, Genentech, J&J) and ultimately move to COO or CEO of the biotech company and focus on business growth of company. I also want to help international transactional law (M&A) between international biotech companies on the way.

My worry is the effects of globalization on legal industry future. Biotech companies are rising in Brazil, Sweden, India, and China rapidly! These countries do not allow foreign lawyers to setup base and participate in legal filings. So i do not know how many positions there will be to work with internal legal transactions and what that future is.

I do want to practice law in a metropolitan area, and live in the US in future. Given the fact that there is a massive abundance of lawyers in almost every US metro region and the uncertainty that rest on how global legal transactions will occur, do you think my legal goals are feasible in the future?

This post assumes I graduate from T10-20 law schools and do in upper 25% of class.

If a JD does not seem smart, does an MBA seem more practical? I feel like there is more competition with an MBA to get to executive of company...JD has unique skill set when operating from executive level that incorporates legal ramifications. I just don't know how the implementation of law will change in next decade and want thoughts on what is best.

[futurejdgirl]

Hello,

I am preparing to take the LSAT in June (if I am not ready I will take it in October to apply this cycle). I have a 3.389 LSDAS GPA and am scoring about 173. I have a BS & MS in biochemistry. I recently recieved a research position at a biotech company that I will do for 1-2 years before either JD or MBA.

I want to do biotech transactional law as an in-house counsel at a top biotech company (Pfizer, Genentech, J&J) and ultimately move to COO or CEO of the biotech company and focus on business growth of company. I also want to help international transactional law (M&A) between international biotech companies on the way.

My worry is the effects of globalization on legal industry future. Biotech companies are rising in Brazil, Sweden, India, and China rapidly! These countries do not allow foreign lawyers to setup base and participate in legal filings. So i do not know how many positions there will be to work with internal legal transactions and what that future is.

I do want to practice law in a metropolitan area, and live in the US in future. Given the fact that there is a massive abundance of lawyers in almost every US metro region and the uncertainty that rest on how global legal transactions will occur, do you think my legal goals are feasible in the future?

This post assumes I graduate from T10-20 law schools and do in upper 25% of class.

If a JD does not seem smart, does an MBA seem more practical? I feel like there is more competition with an MBA to get to executive of company...JD has unique skill set when operating from executive level that incorporates legal ramifications. I just don't know how the implementation of law will change in next decade and want thoughts on what is best.

A lot of top schools have dual degree JD/MBA programs, so you might not have to necessarily choose one or the other.

As for the effects of Globalization... that's been happening for the past 10 years. The most important thing you should focus on for international transactional law are your language skills, even if you're in biotech.

Anyways, you will be doing research for 1-2 years which is amazing and I think you will have plenty of time to evaluate your goals. I wouldn't worry so much right now but I do think you're doing the right thing by working a few years in a relatively prospering field.