While law firm globalization has presented challenges, it also offers opportunities to candidates with much-needed skills.
Applications Due in February for Next Fulbright International Education Administrators Program in Germany
The ABA’s Standard 509 Reports reflect that law schools across the country have increased enrollment of international JD students. From the perspective of a career counselor, this means understanding and counseling on legal career pathways for non-citizens, offering support on non-immigrant visa issues, and providing professional integration and job search resources. As counselors, we need to be knowledgeable about employment options and challenges impacting our international JD students. If you are fortunate enough to be on a campus that offers services for foreign nationals, it is very helpful to refer students to advisers trained on visa i...
Becoming a licensed attorney in the US is a daunting process, even more so for foreign students. Most states require a Juris Doctor degree from a US law school in order to sit for the bar exam. However, there are some states which allow foreign law graduates to sit for the bar exam after having their law degree reviewed and analyzed. If accepted, foreign lawyers are allowed to sit for that state’s bar exam in much the same way a domestic applicant would. In New York, one of the jurisdictions most open to foreign lawyers, this would allow them to sit for the bar without being required to complete any further law school study in the US.
International law students enrich their campus environments in many ways, including by contributing their knowledge and lived experiences to their academic and professional interactions in their law school communities. However, much like with any other special population of students, this group presents a unique set of challenges to the career professionals who advise them. Engagement with career services programming is one of the most significant
The International and Advanced Degree Advising and Recruiting section is for NALP career services members who advise domestic and international LL.M. degree candidates and for NALP legal employer members who hire graduates with LL.M. degrees.
"Podferences" have helped this career office provide more students with current advice on markets abroad from lawyers who actually live and practice in these international markets.
“How do you successfully convert a CV into a US-style résumé?” is a common question expressed by all foreign-trained LLM students and their career counselors. Writing any kind of summary of your professional experience, education, skill set, professional development, etc. is not an easy task. We all know that our JDs are often struggling with résumé drafting, as well. Add to that challenge the confusion about what is the actual difference between a CV (curriculum vitae) and a résumé, and you are left with a difficult task on your hands.
This article outlines some of the recent changes that have occurred to the most common immigration programs for international law students, explores areas that may change going forward, and provides suggestions for how to manage this uncertainty.
Stewart McKelvey’s Lynn Iding, a member of the NALP Board of Directors, offers tips for U.S. members attending the 2023 Annual Education Conference April 25-28 in Vancouver, BC.
While these tips focus specifically on students from China, they may also be helpful in working with international students generally.
The best support we can offer internationally trained law students and lawyers begins with looking at our own actions, assumptions, and policies.
While federal clerkship options for international students are limited, state courts may still offer some options.
When an international student or attorney comes into my office, my goal is to make her leave better positioned than she was when she entered. That’s why she sought my help. However, being “better positioned” can be interpreted differently, and what the international student understands by this expression and what we mean by it is often very different. As career services professionals, we must be comfortable offering guidance with empathy, but also learn when “tough love” is needed.
If your school is thinking about adding an externship program for LL.M. students, this article explains three ways students can benefit from an externship and some tips on how to make your externship program a success.
International students enrolled in the growing number of two-year J.D. programs are different from the typical J.D. or LL.M. students law firms are accustomed to recruiting.
Here are some basics to know for students who want to conduct a search for an international public interest job.
Clara Solomon, currently serving on the NALP Board of Directors, and Lourdes Olvera-Marshall explain why international students belong in the DEI conversation that’s happening in the United States.
Here's how to help JD and LLM students create lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.
NALP members should be aware that the ABA has issued a Proposed Model Rule on Admission of Foreign Educated Lawyers.
Students interested in international arbitration should be encouraged to think broadly about location, practice setting, and type of position.
In December 2015, the New York Court of Appeals adopted Section 520.18 to the Rules for the Admission of Attorneys and Counselors at Law. This provision requires applicants seeking admission in New York to establish that they possess the skills and values necessary to provide effective, ethical, and responsible legal services in New York. For foreign applicants who qualify for the bar exam only after completing an LL.M. program at an ABA-approved law school, the skills competency and professional values requirement applies to LL.M. students who began their program of study August 1, 2018, or later.
Reviewing resumes, cover letters, and other application documents is a key aspect of being a career counselor. This guide is meant to help provide a framework for how to conduct effective document review while still honoring your own style of feedback and communication.
As the legal world becomes increasingly global, employers as well as candidates are often uncertain about how or when during the recruitment process to discuss immigration status or permission to work.
USC Gould School of Law’s Sarah Gruzas share best practices for supporting international students in the role of coordinating and communicating with your law school’s visa and immigration advisors.
How can career services professionals best help international LL.M. students who want to find jobs in the U.S.?
Setting students up for success is an important part of what career development professionals and academic advisors do, through collaboration and strategic timing of advice and services throughout the year. This article will cover a number of these helpful efforts, including general collaboration strategies, collaboration on academic advising and bar tracks, and how career development professionals and academic advisors can collaborate to help students find mentors and get professional recommendations. For the purposes of this article, students will be defined as internationally-trained students enrolled in Master of Laws (LLM) programs.
Value, networking and professional growth are among the reasons to attend NALP’s AEC 2020, which takes place April 28 to May 1 in Montreal, Canada.
Arming career counselors with information to assist students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
As counselors for international students, we must be aware of how our own culture may be both similar to and different from a student's culture.
Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about how the New York pro bono requirement affects non-U.S. trained LL.M. students.
Those of us who are law school career services professionals have multiple, often competing, demands on our time and energy. In addition, we need to be familiar not only with the NALP Principles for a Fair and Ethical Recruitment Process but also with the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. Incorporating all standards into daily practice can be daunting. The following are examples of how law school career services professionals can use the CAS Standards for International Student Programs to engage international students in their learning and development.
Regardless of a career center’s office structure or the bandwidth of its staff, many advisors provide support throughout a student’s job search — from résumé development to salary negotiation. Within this process, international students often need different types of support than their domestic peers. International students, for example, might need help accurately using English figures of speech in their cover letters or appropriately emailing prospective employers. Below are some practices to consider when serving an international law student population in the job search.
In order to advise law students on compliance as an emerging job market, advisors themselves need to know more about this field and how students can best position themselves for success.
Career counselors can play an important role in helping students — and perhaps especially international students — anticipate challenging interview situations.
Helping international LL.M. students manage the interviewing process, including setting up interviews, following up with thank-you emails, and other logistical details.
