Originally published in Student Lawyer magazine, January 2006 (Vol. 34, No. 5). All rights reserved.

International Law Internships

by Christopher Y. Chan

Before law school, I worked as a business consultant in India, an experience that has generated interesting conversations during job interviews. Hiring attorneys are curious to learn what it’s like to work overseas.

If you’re interested in international law, consider working as an intern at an overseas law firm for a truly international legal learning experience. With help from the ABA Section of International Law, finding an internship may be less daunting than you think.

Last spring, Anahita Ferasat, a 3L at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, searched for an internship on her own by cold calling international firms and even flying to Paris, but nothing came of it. Her luck changed when she received an e-mail from the International Law Section regarding its International Internship Program.

The program matches U.S. law students who want international legal training with firms abroad willing to provide this experience. In 2005, the program listed more than 50 international law firms from across the globe, from Argentina to Vietnam. The listed law firms accept résumés from student members of the Section of International Law until positions are filled.

Through the program, Ferasat applied to several law firms in Europe and heard back from ones in Paris and Milan. By the end of May, she was riding a moped through the streets of Milan after securing an internship with a large Italian law firm.

Justin Atkinson, a 2L at the University of Utah, also found a position through the International Internship Program. Last summer, he spent a month working for a firm in the heart of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Atkinson used this internship experience to get a summer associate position in the Latin American practice group of a large U.S. firm.

Even if you’re finishing school this spring, an internship may be available to you. After graduating from Southwestern University School of Law and taking the California bar exam last summer, Katreina Eden spent three months this past fall with a firm in Amman, Jordan. Eden had no idea what to expect in the Middle East and was wary about the fact that most of the internships were unpaid. But after meeting international contacts, receiving relevant legal training, learning about an entirely different culture, and gaining a true sense of what international law represents, she says the experience was well worth it.

If you plan on studying abroad for the summer or a semester, don’t overlook the possibility of combining your studies with a law firm internship in your host country. The International Internship Program may help open doors to a real future in international law.

For more information, visit www.abanet.org/intlaw/intlinternship.html.

Christopher Y. Chan ( chanc@abanet.org), a 2L at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, is governor of the ABA Law Student Division’s Sixth Circuit and a member of Student Lawyer’s editorial board.

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