Someone I know who is in law school is studying International and Comparative Law. What sorts of jobs does this lead to? Would this be Corporate Law on an Intl. basis? Also, what other fields would this degree be good in?
Thanks.
As a general rule, there is no reason to go to law school if you don’t plan on being a lawyer. You can do something else if you want, and the law degree’s not going to hurt you, but it’s a waste of time, money, and energy.
Most people don’t specialize in law school. You get the same J.D. degree no matter what classes you take. For most areas of law, firms don’t care much what you’ve studied. Most attorneys doing corporate international law don’t practice international law at all but rather help foreign and multinational corporations navigate U.S. law, though some of them do work with private international law. Your friend is probably studying public international law. Public international law involves government relations, human rights - basically all the things the U.N. does. Public international lawyers work for governments, NGOs, or intergovernmental organizations (the U.N.).
It seems strange that your friend would be specializing in this field without knowing what she’s getting into.
I probably didn’t make my question very clear. Sorry. I was just wondering what sorts of jobs would be available for someone in that field. Thanks for your response.
You’re right, chula. I’m sure this person knows exactly what they are getting into. It’s me that didn’t know and wanted someone to splain it to ME. 
Sorry if I sounded snippy. It’s just that the jobs in non-corporate international law are extremely competitive, and if your friend hopes to get one of them, she needs to be very focused. If she wants to do corporate law, she doesn’t need to study so much international law. Who knows what she’s planning on doing?
Sorry if I sounded snippy. It’s just that the jobs in non-corporate international law are extremely competitive, and if your friend hopes to get one of them, she needs to be very focused. If she wants to do corporate law, she doesn’t need to study so much international law. Who knows what she’s planning on doing?
Interesting. I wasn’t aware that you could “major” in a specific field during law school.
Every lawyer I know went to great lengths to take a wide variety of “elective” courses, because you never know where you’ll land. Also, in the case of something like the Uniform Commercial Code, you’ll be MUCH better off taking a class than trying to learn it on your feet later on, under pressure.
You were right, EJsGirl, you don’t “major” in law school. It works for most lawyers to generalize, but certain fields require that you use your electives to specialize. The UCC isn’t going to do you much good if you’re a criminal lawyer, for example.
Thanks for the feedback to both of you. I was just curious about this and thought this would be the right place to ask about it. I am not close enough to this student to ask them about it.
I took both classes during my legal studies. I took International law just because it sounded neat, plus the prof teaching it at our school had a good reputation in the area. I took Comp law because while most of Canada operates on the common law system, Quebec has a civil law system, and I thought it would be useful in appreciating the differences. I nenver planned on practising in either area, though - just part of a well-rounded legal education.