Working Abroad

At Sidebar column from the Spring 2024 issue of The Federal Lawyer

Many American lawyers¹ dream of working abroad. Some like the idea of practicing in new areas of the law and meeting new clients. Others enjoy seeing new sights and being exposed to different cultures; they enjoy being able to take a day trip to Paris or a weekend skiing excursion in the Alps. While it is not always easy, many American attorneys have successfully established a legal career outside the United States.

There are many ways to find legal work abroad. Some American attorneys join the overseas branch of a large international law firm.² Some find work abroad with a multinational corporation that needs an American attorney.³ Others find work with the U.S. government in a foreign country; many work for the Department of Defense as either a uniformed or civilian attorney.⁴ Still others establish their own firm abroad, advising U.S. expatriates and others who need advice on American legal issues.⁵

Working abroad presents many challenges. The most obvious is acclimating to the local culture and laws. Attorneys practicing abroad must ensure that they do not engage in the unauthorized practice of law in a jurisdiction where they are not licensed.⁶ Language skills can be critical, especially if the attorney is working for an overseas firm or corporation comprised primarily of personnel from the local area. The attorney may also need to deal with foreign regulatory and tax requirements.

One American attorney who successfully made the transition to working abroad is Megan Deardorff. She currently works as a lawyer for a German law firm, Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. However, she started her legal career in the United States. She graduated from the University of Memphis Law School in 2009. As a result of the financial crisis, she had difficulty finding a legal position after graduation and used her undergraduate degree in public relations to find employment with a public relations firm. She was then hired as a litigation specialist in a small law firm in Nashville, Tenn., called Neal & Harwell. Despite its size, they had big-name clients and one of the founders had been a prosecutor in the Watergate scandal. She was able to combine her public relations background with her law degree to best represent clients in criminal investigations, including crisis management. She was part of a team that defended a large U.S. diesel fuel company that was under investigation by the Department of Justice for fraud. She was also involved in various internal investigations for a big medical corporation involving multiple hospitals and a U.S. automobile manufacturer that was accused by the U.S. government of violating Iran sanctions.

Deardorff always dreamed of living in Europe but did not know how to transfer her U.S. law degree into a job overseas. In 2017, she decided to take the risk and moved to Berlin to learn German for three months. After three months, she knew she wanted to stay in Germany and enrolled for a year at the German Language School (GLS) in Berlin. After that, she applied and was accepted to a Legal Masters (LLM) program in legal theory at Goethe University in Frankfurt. While searching for a job during her studies, she discovered the German American Lawyers Association (Deutsch-Amerikanische Juristen-Vereinigung), an organization that fosters mutual understanding between European and American lawyers by hosting events in Germany and the United States. Deardorff signed up for a Thanksgiving dinner they were hosting and met two German attorneys from Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft who asked about her background and explained that the firm needed her expertise. Deardorff went through a series of interviews and started her job at Noerr in 2019.

In Deardorff’s current position as a professional support lawyer, she advises German corporate clients on U.S. legal matters. This can include advising corporate clients on the best states in which to incorporate, analyzing the risk of U.S. litigation, and assisting companies that are already involved in U.S. litigation. The U.S. legal system can be quite foreign to many German companies; Deardorff helps them navigate the process. Her firm frequently hires local law firms in the United States to attend in-person court hearings and similar matters. When that happens, she liaises between the German lawyers, the U.S. lawyers, and the client. Deardorff explains that her work is “something I never knew was available when I was dreaming all those years about living in Europe but could not figure out a way to make it a reality. I consider myself so incredibly lucky.”

Another American attorney who made the transition to work abroad is Captain Taylor Swift,⁷ a uniformed military attorney working for the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps in Europe. She pursued her undergraduate studies at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and graduated in May 2018 with a Bachelor’s Degree in international studies. She went on to law school at Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Neb., graduating in May 2021. During law school, she concentrated in international and comparative Law. 

Captain Swift grew up traveling and lived abroad three times before joining the Army.  She was always interested in living abroad as well as in international law and national security law, and so decided that working abroad was the best way to work in one of those fields after law school.

After graduating from law school and passing the bar, Captain Swift applied for and was accepted to the Army JAG Corps. After completing several months of basic legal training at the Army JAG Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va., she was sent to her current assignment with the 21st Theater Sustainment Command Office of the Staff Judge Advocate in Kaiserslautern, Germany. She is working in the office’s legal assistance section, providing advice to American service members, Department of Defense civilian employees, and their family members on a variety of American legal issues—including divorce and separation and estate planning. She will soon switch to the office’s administrative law section, where she will advise commanders on administrative law and national security law issues. Captain Swift anticipates eventually switching to the military justice section, where she will serve as a prosecutor in courts-martial, the military equivalent of criminal trials.⁸ Switching jobs every year is a typical progression for junior captains in the Army JAG Corps.

Captain Swift believes the most challenging part of working overseas is that some issues are difficult to address from the other side of the world. If someone wants to file for divorce for example, most states have residency requirements which can’t be met when living overseas. Some states have exceptions for active-duty service members, but most do not. She finds it fascinating to see how American laws differ from German laws and how the two legal systems interrelate.

Captain Swift advises attorneys seeking employment overseas to be prepared for the difficulties that come with living and working on the other side of the world and being six (or more) hours ahead of legal colleagues working in the United States. She would encourage those interested in a job overseas to reach out to others for help. Many attorneys have been working overseas for years and have seen nearly every legal issue one can think of. These people can be a wealth of knowledge and are usually very willing and happy to assist.

Finding a job as an American attorney abroad requires good deal of persistence and a willingness to leave one’s comfort zone. Those who successfully make the transition will find work abroad both exciting and rewarding. 8

Endnotes

This article will focus on attorneys licensed to practice law in jurisdictions within the United States who desire to use their American licenses to practice law abroad.

² See Carol Silver, The Variable Value of U.S. Legal Education in the Global Legal Services Market, 24 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 1, 7 (2011).

³ Mary C. Daly, The Cultural, Ethical and Legal Challenges in Lawyering for a Global Organization: the Role of the General Counsel, 46 Emory L.J. 1057 (2009).

⁴ See e.g. Jobzmal, Are there opportunities for JAG officers to work overseas? (2024), at https://www.jobzmall.com/careers/military-lawyer-jag-corps/faqs/are-there-opportunities-for-jag-officers-to-work-overseas.

⁵ Indeed, 11 Things to Know About Jobs for American Lawyers Abroad (27 Feb 2023), at https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/jobs-for-american-lawyers-abroad.

⁶ Model Rules of Prof’l Conduct, R. 5.5 (2024), available at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/.

⁷ She has no (known) relationship to the rock star of the same name.

⁸ See Manual for Court-Martial, United States, (2024), available at https://jsc.defense.gov/Portals/99/2024%20MCM%20files/MCM%20(2024%20ed)%20(2024_01_02).pdf?ver=6Sk4QFffDE45HeNjOd7KpQ%3d%3d.