22 Mar How did I become an international business lawyer?

Soon after I earned my first law degree, I realized that unlike my high school friends, who later studied to be engineers or doctors, I did not really get a chance to do some exchange program during my university studies. That was the first time when I started thinking if it is even possible to live abroad and still work as a lawyer. It seemed like it is the only profession in today’s globalized world when one is confined to his own country or country where he studied respectively. Each state issues its own laws that can vary greatly even from its neighbors. There is also the language aspect as you cannot really be a lawyer without mastering the language in which the laws and contracts are written and negotiations held. But also from the legal point, it is quite tricky, in order to practice law in a given country, you usually have to become a member of the local bar. That means (among other requirements) to pass the exams which, of course, test the knowledge of domestic law. In most countries, you even have to obtain a degree from an accredited law school in that country. And even if you managed to do all of that, you will still be disadvantaged by the lack of knowledge of local culture and business environment that often play a significant role in the success of a business lawyer. 

 My first professional foreign experience was a three months-long stay in the United States, where I studied English at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I took this opportunity after completing the bar exam in the Czech Republic. I figured it might be the only time for a while when I could afford such a break as I was no longer employed as a junior attorney but had not yet started working as an independent attorney either. Colorado was a brilliant choice. Not only I met my future wife in Boulder but also improved my English to such a level that I could provide all sorts of legal services to foreigners after I came back to my home country and started my own law firm. Some of the most significant clients I gained were Austrian entrepreneurs who needed legal assistance with their business projects in the Czech Republic. The language was the key, not so many attorneys in the city where I started were fluent in English or German enough to handle complicated legal issues that required hundreds of hours of negotiation. 

Another milestone was my move to Germany for about 5 months. I did not close my legal practice in the Czech Republic but kept traveling back and forth every week. This experience taught me another valuable lesson- it is quite doable to live abroad and still practice your own country’s law if your focus is on transactions and other work that does not require your regular physical presence (especially at courts). So I started specializing more in contracts rather than litigation. 

The major shift was the subsequent move to the USA. I was not able any longer to see my clients in person and the 8 hours time difference made also other means of communication much slower and more difficult. And a hard-to-reach lawyer is not a very useful lawyer. For a while, I was thinking of a change of career but then I enrolled in the law program at the University of Southern California and started studying the U.S. and international law. The more I was getting to know that huge gap between the civil law and common law and mainly between the U.S. and European style of lawyering the more I was realizing that it would take me at least another decade before I would get to such a professional level I reached back in Europe. Therefore, my focus turned to the international side of the program and gradually I joined all classes with a transborder element. I enjoyed and up today I enjoy the relative simplicity of international business law and international contracts. As their parties come from different regions with different customs and traditions, the contracts cannot be too much elaborated and wordy because that could lead to their misinterpretations. On the other hand, if you want to reduce the possibility of application of foreign law to fill the gaps, the contract needs to be as complex as possible. This contrast led to the development of many model rules designed specifically for international trade by various agencies (ICC, UNCITRAL, WTO to name at least a few). Even though an overwhelming majority of these rules are not binding per se, they are often incorporated in the contracts (e.g. INCOTERMS clauses) and therefore, followed by their parties. I concluded, that if I keep focusing almost solely on international business transactions, I might actually be able to work anywhere in the world (or at least in those parts of the world engaged in international trade). My rationale is following: 1) the contracts are usually written in English, 2) specialization in transactional law does not require your presence at courts and other authorities where only locally registered attorneys can represent their clients 3) there is quite a homogenous body of international business law that is respected globally. 

When I came back to Europe (Austria) in 2018, I was already working on transatlantic business transactions. As it usually goes, in the beginning, I needed a fair amount of luck to get new clients but when they came, I was prepared. And with every successfully finished deal and satisfied client, it is easier to get the next one. Next time, I am gonna share with you how exactly I was able to find clients with international cases and what it takes to keep them.