Possible work opportunity for a foreign lawyer? Forum

[beibitoi]

Hi, I have been a lawyer for close to 8 years now and have been actively practicing in the Philippines. I'm at this stage where I want to explore other opportunities while maintaining my practice in my country.

With that, would you know of the chances of a foreign lawyer having an online job in a US-based office or company? Is it something which is somehow commonly done by these offices? I once knew someone who worked as a contract specialist in a US-based office at the comfort of her own home. Sadly, I lost contact with her and never asked how she made it. I also know others although of a different profession, who have that same work arrangement. I'm just wondering if foreign lawyer could do it too.

Any advice for people like me who are looking for this kind of opportunity? Or is it possible at all?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[ninthcircuitattorney]

If you are licensed in the U.S., possibly. If you are not, impossible.

[Anonymous User]

Hi, I have been a lawyer for close to 8 years now and have been actively practicing in the Philippines. I'm at this stage where I want to explore other opportunities while maintaining my practice in my country.

With that, would you know of the chances of a foreign lawyer having an online job in a US-based office or company? Is it something which is somehow commonly done by these offices? I once knew someone who worked as a contract specialist in a US-based office at the comfort of her own home. Sadly, I lost contact with her and never asked how she made it. I also know others although of a different profession, who have that same work arrangement. I'm just wondering if foreign lawyer could do it too.

Any advice for people like me who are looking for this kind of opportunity? Or is it possible at all?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

There are U.S. biglaws with offices in the Philippines. For example, this could be a starting point: https://www.legal500.com/c/philippines/foreign-firms/
I know these offices might hire local attorneys, but they may/may not provide remote working options. The firms' U.S.-based offices almost never hire individual foreign attorneys to do online work. They either open a foreign office or co-counsel with local firms when necessary.

[Wanderingdrock]

Like most jurisdictions I know anything about, the U.S. legal market is highly protectionist. Unlike, say, China or India (where foreigners cannot be licensed to practice law at all) non-U.S. folks can be licensed, but the licensing requirements vary by state. It's unclear from your post whether you're familiar with this system, but lots of non-U.S. lawyers come to the U.S., do a one-year LLM program, and then sit for a bar (often New York's). You can probably skip the LLM, except NY requires it in order to take the bar if (I'm simplifying slightly more complicated requirements) your law degree isn't in common law.

Once licensed, though, the remote work options are still pretty sparse. There are a few big firms that have offices in low cost-of-living states in the U.S., like West Virginia, where certain types of legal work like document review can be farmed out to attorneys willing to work for less than their biglaw, high cost-of-living market colleagues. If not for the licensing requirements severely limiting the labor pool, you could imagine a market sprouting up for outsourcing legal work to lawyers in lower cost-of-living countries. There are also third-party providers for document review and similar legal services whose employees are allowed to work remotely, at least since the pandemic started. However, I imagine they still have some residency requirements for tax and licensing reasons.