International Law Advice Forum

[themaxexperience]

I'm going to be a senior at my UG and will get a degree in Finance in May. I've taken 15 hours of Mandarin Chinese and studied abroad in Beijing for an entire semester my sophomore year. I started off interested in international business but gradually my interests have changed into more international law/business law, particularly in China, since that's the language I am familiar with (not fluent) and in a business sense is the place to be in the future.
I've got a 3.45 GPA and I have already started studying for the October LSAT. Even though my diagnostic was 151, I'll be damned if I get anything on the LSAT that's not at least mid-160's. I have a decent GPA and I'm not going to waste it by not working hard and complimenting it with a good LSAT score.
I'm looking for advice on what schools would be a good fit for my interests and also just anyone's advice or their own experience on what the international law field has to offer.
Thanks guys

[xyzzzzzzzz]

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[worldtraveler]

What exactly are you looking to do? Do you want to work in China, or work with a US firm that does work with China? Either way you won't be doing international law. International law is law governing treaties, war, and the like. Basically it sounds like you want to do business law and show that you have some experience with Chinese markets.
Without an LSAT score, giving school advice is pointless. The best thing you can do is to study for the LSAT and if you really want to work in China or doing something related to China someday, get better at Mandarin. Even if you were there for an "entire semester"...no one will really care.

[Pearalegal]

Read this http://www.annaivey.com/iveyfiles/2008/ ... e_the_hype

A good link, even though I dislike the way Ms. Ivey puts almost 90% of everything. There is international work, obviously, but most law students don't really know what that means. Heck, I bet most students period don't understand what international business even means.

I do think the long second quote from the student is silly. If they came off as irritating in their interviews as they did there, no wonder they didn't get some of the positions they were "entitled" to.

[Mr. The Plague]

A second opinion from University of Chicago professor Eric Posner seems to confirm Ms. Ivey's concerns.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog ... dvice.html

OP, your finance experience will certainly give you a good background for business law. And I'd highly recommend becoming fluent in Mandarin, as there are plenty of firms that have practices in Asia. But from my research, these are mostly top firms that recruit from top schools. So that LSAT should be your primary focus if you want to practice in Asian markets.

But as a 0L who is starting school this fall, I'm hearing plenty of conflicting advice about what courses to take. If international law is your interest, it couldn't hurt to take a course or two. The majority of the advice I get is to not just take courses that will be on the Bar, but to take courses that you are interested in. I think a happy medium would be a good idea. But heed the advice of Posner and others.

[KeepitKind]

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oh boy, i'm glad i read this before I start in the fall...

these articles make my essay for "why I want to attend X" look like layout of how 0L's are mistaken about what the hell Int'l Law really is..

[ScaredWorkedBored]

Go easy on the OP, he's at least thinking about the international transaction aspect of it.

Since that means big firm, go to the best school you can and do well there. For language ability to be a meaningful leg up for working in Asia, it needs to be ILR 4 or better. Anything less isn't really useful for legal documents, laws and such and thus you're not any different from general associate who wants to work in/with Asia.

[themaxexperience]

Thanks for the advice.
The things I've read in this thread are pretty disappointing but I'm glad I'm aware of them sooner rather than later.
What those articles said about international this and that being a marketing tool makes sense.

My next question is, how common is it for someone to not be completely sure what kind of law they want to study when they get to law school?

[jayn3]

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oh boy, i'm glad i read this before I start in the fall...

these articles make my essay for "why I want to attend X" look like layout of how 0L's are mistaken about what the hell Int'l Law really is..

lol yes. after reading this i'm surprised the law advising office didn't just bitchslap me and tell me to get the hell out of there.

[xyzzzzzzzz]

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