Can You Transfer Your Legal Skills and Knowledge?

How is it possible to study Law in Mexico and work as a lawyer in New Zealand?

When our founder, Maria Nieto, decided to study Law at UNAM in Mexico, she never imagined that she would have the opportunity to work at a law firm on the other side of the world in a language other than Spanish. In this article she explains her journey and tips to foreign lawyers.

Background

In the fourth semester of my degree, I began working in the legal team of the Coca-Cola FEMSA. There, several colleagues (accountants and financiers) shared their experiences of studying and working abroad. Gradually, I discovered that even lawyers had managed to work at firms in the United States and some European countries. This was a key aspect of my academic and professional development. While working at this company, my English improved significantly (as I had to review and study documents in English almost every day), and I gained access to a commercial/corporate legal world I had never seen before.

During this time, I worked with lawyers from the United States, Argentina, Chile, the Philippines, and Brazil. We were all dedicated to the same field: commercial and corporate law. Our goal was to support our colleagues and the company in conducting business transactions (mergers, acquisitions, asset sales, service or credit contracts). The formula was the same, and we all understood the same business language, regardless of our different jurisdictions. Of course, sometimes local laws had very specific aspects, but it's important to remember that the principle of a sale and purchase agreement of shares is the same in Mexico, Brazil, China and other parts of the world.

After five years working as a commercial lawyer in New Zealand, I’ve discovered that the knowledge I acquired at university (a law degree and two diplomas in corporate law and financial and banking law) and my professional experience in Mexico were crucial for me to be hired here.

When I attended the job interview, after reviewing my CV and asking what a Mexican lawyer was doing on this side of the world, they asked me about:

• my experience in negotiating, drafting, and managing contracts,
• what I knew about corporate governance strategies to develop shareholder agreements based on the client's ownership percentage, and
• my experience in commercial transactions such as mergers and acquisitions (including the legal due diligence, negotiation of sale and purchase agreements and post-closing attendances).

I’m sure that many of my lawyer friends and contacts in these areas of law could answer these questions without any problem. The interview didn’t focus on whether I knew what a certain article or section of the Commercial Code or the Companies Act said. The partners interviewing me were curious to know if I had the skills to research complex topics and explain them, solve problems and write legal documents and opinions.

With this, I realised that commercial and corporate lawyers can transfer the skills and knowledge we gain from our academic and professional experiences to other contexts and even other countries, not just from one firm to another or one job to another.

What are some skills that I believe commercial/corporate lawyers should develop?

In no particular order:

BUSINESS MIND/VISION - We must be practical and proactive (not an obstacle). As commercial lawyers, our job is to translate the complex legal language found in the law into a business context where all parties can understand what’s happening. In my experience, when we’re negotiating a contract or transaction and the other party doesn’t accept our suggestions, it’s because we’re not communicating properly. If we have a valid reason for requesting a change or for doing things differently, we need to explain the rationale behind it. We must avoid being an obstacle for our clients. Some non-lawyer friends who work in companies have told me they hate going to their legal department because they make everything so complicated and slow. We have the obligation to warn our clients and stakeholders of all legal risks, but once this is done and the client's risk appetite is established, it’s our duty to facilitate the operation, not complicate it. We need to be flexible and propose concrete actions and solutions. The disruptive ideas of our clients make legal advice challenging, but testing our skills can lead to something very positive and innovative. 

TIP: Lawyers don’t have all the answers. We need to rely on other legal, tax, accounting and financial advisors. However, as lawyers, it’s vital to know a bit about finance and accounting principles.

SPEAK ENGLISH - Without a doubt, one of the skills that allowed me to get my current job was being able to speak English at a professional (business and legal) level. This skill takes time to develop and requires constant effort. In my experience, reading legal texts and trying to translate them from Spanish to English and vice versa was one of the best exercises. One of the first tasks I had to do in my first job was to translate the company's annual report from English to Spanish. I didn’t know the Spanish version was available online - curiosity is another skill we need to develop. This wasn’t a minor task; there were many words I had never heard or read before, but after finishing (after several days), my business vocabulary in English increased significantly. Another way to improve my English was to change my phone and computer settings to English and start watching series in English with English subtitles. This helped me a lot with listening and understanding, as well as with the use of certain words. To this day, this is the skill I continue to develop every day. There are good and bad days, but the most important thing is not to give up.

TIP: Reading books, listening to music, and watching series in English won’t help with your communication skills in English. This is the main barrier to getting a job among the Latin American community here in New Zealand. Many professionals come to this country and don’t feel comfortable speaking English in a work environment. I’ve heard many times "I understand and write it, but I don’t speak it." The only way to solve this is to talk in English and practise every day. Overcoming the barrier of being able to hold a conversation in English is very important; look for conversation groups and don’t be afraid to speak. Talk, talk, and talk until one day it comes naturally, accept constructive criticism, and don’t take it personally. There’s no other way to speak English with confidence.

USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS - Knowing how to use tools like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe (Pro), compare docs (workshare) and other applications to edit, produce, and file documents and emails is very useful. One of the tools I’ve used in all my jobs is Outlook. Knowing how to organise documents, send meeting invitations, and use automatic email responses are some of the functions you should know. Another software widely used by commercial lawyers is DocsCompare or WorkShare, which allows you to compare documents and see the differences between them. For example, if you send a document to your counterpart for their comments and they return a document without track changes (which is used in Word, it’s a function that shows the changes made to the document), you can use DocsCompare to see what was changed in the document. 

TIP: There are many online courses available to learn how to use these types of platforms. In this time when you can’t leave your home, try to dedicate a couple of hours a day to developing skills in these types of platforms. I recommend this Excel course: Udemy Excel Course.

Surely, we can make a much longer list of skills. All of these can help you find a job as a lawyer in a country other than where you studied law. Remember to develop a personal brand and communicate your strengths during the job interview. This isn’t only applicable to commercial law. Other areas of law have this advantage, for example, those specialising in Intellectual Property and Copyright Law, Environmental Law, and Energy Law (among others).

In these times of crisis where the situation demands us to be innovative, I think looking for job opportunities in places with a better quality of life is an excellent idea. Don’t be afraid to seek a job at a foreign law firm or company. Speaking two or more languages and being able to bring international experience is something that makes us very valuable and supports the idea of diversity that many firms are interested in developing.

Did you like this article? Get in touch with us to tell us what other skills have helped you or you think are valuable when looking for a job abroad.