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International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:45 pm
by soycapitán
I am interested in practicing international law, eventually working in policy/diplomacy.
I want to live (i.e. post law school) in the SF/Bay Area.
Are these conflicting desires? Are all the decent int'l opportunities really just NYC/DC/abroad?
Moreover, in a choice of H/Y/NYU/UCB (I realize I am extremely fortunate!) should this make a difference? No word on $ yet.
Thanks for the input!
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:03 pm
by mrtoren
Ha.
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:06 pm
by dood
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:11 pm
by Mal Reynolds
For someone who got into Yale you are criminally misinformed, about a number of things. I wish I could practice international law from my city of choice too but I don't think that's how the world works.
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:23 pm
by hookem12
Doha is kind of like SF, but with more driving and 120+ temps. There is a bay, though.
Kidding, kind of, but the people I know that work in international law in some regard are located in the gulf states or the UK. That's not to say that there aren't opportunities in SF, I just don't know of any.
FWIW, NYU has one of the top IL programs (I think it might be ranked #1, actually).
//edit: it is.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... w-rankings
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:31 pm
by Genki
hookem12 wrote:Doha is kind of like SF, but with more driving and 120+ temps. There is a bay, though.
Kidding, kind of, but the people I know that work in international law in some regard are located in the gulf states or the UK. That's not to say that there aren't opportunities in SF, I just don't know of any.
FWIW, NYU has one of the top IL programs (I think it might be ranked #1, actually).
//edit: it is.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... w-rankings
What is your definition of international law. International law by itself is so vague that it has very little meaning.
Do you want to assist in transnational business transactions/M&A? Immigration? Prosecuting war criminals?
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:43 pm
by hookem12
The only kind of international law I'm familiar with really just includes random things. Nothing like immigration or war crimes. I know a few people doing transnational legal consulting out of London and Jeddah (through what is basically a legal think-tank), an in-house currently located at the site of an engineering company's airport project in Doha, and the general counsel for a university in Saudi. All of these people were educated at US law schools and I believe the majority worked in firms for a good while before going overseas. I'm sure a lot of these are not what you want to pursue in IL, but I figured I'd post for clarification. All of these things would probably be categorized outside of international law, yet they still are very much a part of it.
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:58 pm
by soycapitán
My ambitions in international law are pretty open-ended at this point. Development, environmental, and trade IL are all areas that interest me. Not so much on the war crimes.
Thanks for the NYU link!
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:21 am
by Genki
soycapitán wrote:My ambitions in international law are pretty open-ended at this point. Development, environmental, and trade IL are all areas that interest me. Not so much on the war crimes.
Thanks for the NYU link!
If this is the case, then you would be better of pursuing opportunities in environmental law, trade law, etc. International law most commonly is a subset of these areas of law, not the other way around. Throughout your career, you may occasionally be involved with issues that have an international aspect.
If you haven't read this article already I suggest you do before setting your sights on international law:
http://www.annaivey.com/iveyfiles/2008/ ... e_the_hype
Re: International law in SF/Bay Area?
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:13 am
by soycapitán
Very interesting article, thanks for the reference. I hadn't realized I was among so much company. Oh naiveté.