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A few decades ago there almost no such field as international law – only domestic law representing clients with funny sounding names. Although that situation has changed, the world is not yet as borderless because the media would have us believe that it is. Nevertheless, US lawyers are going to China in increasing numbers to apply "cutting edge" foreign investment law, and several of these adventurers are fresh out of law school. Conventional wisdom has it that heading overseas straight out of law school will ruin your career back home should you ever want to relocate stateside.

I beg to differ. I understand of a man who graduated from law school in the mid-nineties with a higher GPA, fluency in Mandarin Chinese, and experience as a Summer Associate in the Beijing office of a significant international law firm. He previously caught the "Asia bug" and returned so fast that his diploma needed to be mailed to him over the Pacific. Around the turn of the millennium he returned to the united states to test out the idea that "you can’t go back home again". With just a few months of effort, he landed a premium position as a delivery driver for Pizza Hut, creating a full dollar an hour above minimum wage (plus tips!).

Look in the Mirror: Let’s get serious. Before you take a leap across the Pacific, have a look in the mirror and ask yourself this question: "Am I an ‘international Lawyer’, or am I an ‘International lawyer’?" (note the differences in capitalization). What’s Plan B in the event practicing law in China falls through? Are you considering practicing law in the usa, or are you considering teaching English in China? What excites you about China law – China, or law? Since when all is said and done, an office is an office, whether it’s in Beijing, NY, or London. And like it or not, the inside of an office is where in fact the average lawyer spends the majority of his/her waking hours. Likewise, legal work is legal work; there’s no exciting difference whether you’re consulting with clients and drafting documents in Chinese, English, or Serbo-Croatian.

The Prestige Factor: It is rather stylish nowadays for medium and large sized lawyers to prattle on and on about "our China Office" – and it allows for the issuance of impressive-looking bilingual business cards. It’s become such a potent status symbol that a many firms (I strongly suspect) are holding on to money-losing offices in China just so they can keep Beijing one of many cities where their firm has offices.
China Business Lawyers in particular prefer to setup China offices to prove to their clients their status as BIG STYLE International Players – sort of like the teenager who won’t shave off his peach fuzz since it "proves I’m a guy".

Better to forget about the prestige factor involved in practicing international law overseas. Holding a prestigious job is similar to marrying a fashion model – it’s cool at first, but hey, law is a jealous mistress – after a month or two the magic wears off and you’re going to have to live with her every single day, for good or for bad.