Carole Silver

Local Matters: Internationalizing Strategies for U.S. Law Firms

The local nature of legal systems reduces the harmonizing impact that globalization has generated in other sectors of the economy. Despite the continuing importance of local differences and institutions, the world in which law and lawyers operate is increasingly connected, and national borders are receding as barriers to commerce. Lawyers and their firms must respond to the forces of globalization both as organizations and in connection with the services they provide. This article addresses the ways in which they are doing so by examining what it means for a law firm to be both a global and a U.S. firm. The article begins with a brief historical review and, in Section I, a discussion of the changes made by U.S. firms in their transformations to global competitors. Section II continues this historical review but broadens the focus from firms to include lawyers as well. Finally, Section III considers the credentials of lawyers active in the international legal services market. The analysis is based on two ongoing empirical studies, one of which examines the credentials of lawyers working in the foreign offices of U.S. law firms and the other focusing on foreign law graduates who earn a U.S. law school LL.M. degree, the one-year post-J.D. degree aimed at foreign law graduates. The article concludes with some thoughts on the challenges facing U.S.-based firms as they respond to globalization by adding local lawyers to their rosters and local advisory services to their offerings. In becoming more local, the firms must struggle to maintain and redefine their U.S. identities.

Too many lawyers

We have, it is computed, nearly 70,000 lawyers in the country. France, with a population of 40,000,000, has 6,000 lawyers and 2,400 other officials . . . and Germany, with a population of 45,000,000, has in the same category 7,000. Thus the proportion of the legal element is – in France 1 to 4,762; in Germany 1 to 6,423; in the United States 1 of 909. Taking all these figures together, is it any wonder that a cynic should say that we American lawyers talk more and speed less than any other equal number of men known to history?

Coping with the consequences of ‘too many lawyers’: securing the place of international graduate law students

This article considers the role of international graduate law students as potentially contributing to the ‘solution’ of the economic challenges facing US law schools. It suggests that intense competition for international graduate students from law schools within and outside of the United States creates challenges for US schools interested in maintaining and developing their international student populations. Understanding what international students want will help schools succeed in this competition. Satisfying those desires may require schools to allow globalization to infiltrate their structures, activities and traditional approaches to educating lawyers.