International Lawyers

The bad news first. Very few lawyers are "international lawyers" in the sense that they spend their lives jetting around the world offering advice to countries on what to include in their constitutions, how to set up truth and reconciliation commissions, or how to implement WTO commitments. And the few that do are generally senior lawyers with years of experience under their belt.

The good news is that if you're starting out in your career or looking for a mid-career change, there are a number of places to look for international legal work.

But before you start your job hunt, you need to do your homework. Figure out what type of work you're looking for and where you want to do it. Then write down a list of everyone that you know who might be able to give you advice or suggest contacts in your field, organization and/or country of interest. Alumni from your law school are a very good source and you can often get a list of them from your law school career centre. Talk to all of these people and talk to the people that they recommend to you.

Join organizations that focus on your area of interest and join interest groups in organizations like the Canadian Bar Association, the American Society of International Law and the International Bar Association (they generally have discount rates for students and new lawyers). Go to conferences with an international focus (the Canadian Council on International Law has a yearly conference, as do the other organizations mentioned above) and make an attempt to meet speakers that are doing what you want to do one day (you can often attend free of charge if you volunteer at the conference). Write articles in your area of interest and get them published - small publications are often looking for interesting articles. Register with Canadem, a great Canadian organization that keeps a roster of skilled Canadians for use by the UN and other agencies when they're looking to fill positions (make sure that you indicate on your Canadem form that you are registered with CLA-ACE).

In other words, network. Getting interesting international work won't happen by simply applying to hundreds of jobs posted online.

Once you know the lay of the land a little more, you'll have to decide if you want to do international work in Canada, develop some expertise in Canada and then go abroad, or take off immediately.

There are a number of opportunities to do international work in Canada. You can look for law firms that have an international practice - most larger corporate firms do. This type of work can include anything from cross-border mergers, international trade files or work on infrastructure projects in developing countries. If you're more interested in public law, you would be surprised at the number of government departments whose lawyers do international work. There are the obvious ones like Foreign Affairs Canada and International Trade Canada, but you'll find interesting international work at other Departments (e.g., Kyoto implementation at Natural Resources Canada, international trade at Agriculture Canada, etc.). Then there is a number of NGOs that do work that is entirely or partly focused on international issues (e.g., Rights and Democracy, Amnesty International Canada, etc.).

If you've recently checked out the job boards of international organizations or NGOs doing international work, it's clear that they are almost exclusively looking for individuals who are experts in a specific area and have some development experience. Much of the expertise isn't country specific. So if you want to eventually want to prosecute serious crimes in a post-conflict country, get experience working as a crown prosecutor in Canada. Or, if you want to work on women's human rights issues, work for a Canadian organization that advocates on behalf of women. Or, if you've always wanted to work for the WTO, get some trade law experience. Or, if you really want to work on legal reform projects that focus on private sector development, develop expertise in an area of corporate law. Once you've got some hard experience, you'll be much better placed to find a job abroad in your area of expertise.

If you really want to work with an international organization like the UN or an interesting NGO, your best bet isn't to apply from Canada to jobs posted on websites but to take a chance and go to a country where these organizations work. This of course, isn't for the faint of heart, particularly if you want interesting work in a country in transition. Places like Timor-Leste, Kosovo and Burundi aren't for everyone, especially if you don't have experience in a developing country. A good idea is to get some international development experience first by organizing an internship either on your own or the help with an organization like ours. However, if you show up with a bit of money and hell-bent on finding a job, there's a pretty good chance that you'll land on your feet. And, if you happen to know one of the local languages, or make the effort to learn basic conversational skills, you'll find the job hunt much easier. While you might not get the UN or World Bank job that you'd die for, you might find an amazing local NGO to work for or a challenging United Nations Volunteer position that could lead to the job you've always wanted sometime down the road.