Attorney Jobs with the Most Travel? Forum

[learnedpaw123]

I'm a mid-level at a V10 (litigation) and thinking about making a move. I've really enjoyed the travel that I've had to do for my cases, but it's sporadic (couple times a year maybe) and I'd like it to be a bigger part of my job. Would be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on types of roles (in-house or at a firm) that require substantial travel, especially internationally? Obviously prefer something that a litigator would be a natural fit for, but fire away with whatever you got.

[Anonymous User]

Probably bankruptcy lawyers. Especially if you do primarily debtor work and are not based in NY. You will travel to court, the company's HQ, and New York for meetings with creditor counsels. It's generally not international, but I've done that as an associate. The partners tend to be on the road most of the time (often to New York, so subtract about 1-2/3rd of travel if you are based in NY).

[Anonymous User]

International arbitration and white collar (especially FCPA work--for which you often travel abroad to interview witnesses).

[MichelleMichelle]

Probably bankruptcy lawyers. Especially if you do primarily debtor work and are not based in NY. You will travel to court, the company's HQ, and New York for meetings with creditor counsels. It's generally not international, but I've done that as an associate. The partners tend to be on the road most of the time (often to New York, so subtract about 1-2/3rd of travel if you are based in NY).

I'm about to go to a non-NY BK group, so I'm interested in this. I've heard I'll travel a good amount, but I'm not clear on exactly what that means. If you had to estimate, what percentage of your time is in your home office and what percent are you on the road?

[blackcup]

Once you start taking depositions on big cases, regular litigation positions could have you traveling extensively. I know multiple midlevels and up in litigation who have AA Platinum/United Gold from just domestic travel. I hit 25,000 miles for the calendar year in May.

[Anonymous User]

Work at a boutique that does a lot of FCPA work and associates in that group regularly travel internationally (most recently Asia and South America). Only bad thing is that I think sometimes it is for long periods of time.

[Anonymous User]

Section 337 litigation before the International Trade Commission has significant international travel. There are usually multiple respondents and the respondents are typically located somewhere in Europe or Asia (sometimes South America, but that’s more rare in my experience). The complainant is often international as well. My most recent case had fact depositions in Germany, the Netherlands, Korea, and Singapore.

Two downsides: (1) most cases involve patent infringement or trade secret misappropriation, so you’ll need to be comfortable learning about new and complex technologies; (2) they can be intense, typically compressing the complaint—>trial timeline down to 8-12 months.