Interested in working in Bangkok, Thailand

[Contract2008]

I posted this question in another forum but not sure it was the right location.

Anyways, after living overseas for a while I am absolutely in love with Asia. I spoke with several Managing Partners at some of the biggest international law firms in Bangkok and they all informed me to attend a US law school.  Bangkok is booming (quiet, no jokes!) as many banks and corporations are setting up shop there with a steady 6-8% annual growth rate.

I would like to end up working in Bangkok (or even Hong Kong perhaps) for one of the major BigLaw firms out there.  Any thoughts from the LSD crowd?

FIU grads are having problems finding jobs in Miami.  Seriously, it will be virtually impossible to land a job at an international firm in Asia coming out of FIU.

[RockinJay]

But the school has the word "International" in its name...hahaha, just kidding.     What about some of the other schools I've been accepted/applied to?  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

[bossofyou]

more FLIED LICE!

[Contract2008]

But the school has the word "International" in its name...hahaha, just kidding.     What about some of the other schools I've been accepted/applied to?  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

What other schools have you been accepted to? 

For international law firm, the answer is probably no, unless it's a Top 20 law school.     

[themanwithnoname]

ok seriously you don't know what you are talking about if you are saying it is virtually imposslbe to get a job at an international firm if you are outside of the top 20 schools. You need top 20 to have a very high chance of landing a firm with an international practice, but it is not like "international law firm" is a category above and beyond Biglaw: in fact a lot of the firms with tons of international offices are less selective than the "bulge bracket" of ny firms (Wachtell, Cravath, Simpson, Davis, Sullivan, etc) and DC firms (Covington, WilmerHale, Williams and Connolloy). Clifford, DLA, and White and Case have tons of overseas offices and are considerably less selective than the top ny or DC firms. If you are outside the top 20 you will need to do very well (top 1/3 at a place like fordham, for instance, top 10% at a place like Brooklyn) but it is not "virtually impossible."

[RockinJay]

themanwithnoname,

Very good points.  Just look at the attorney bios and you'll see many of them did not go to a Top 20 school.  But a powerhouse name (i.e. any of the Ivy's) will carry alot of weight no matter where you go.  I know Wisconsin and some of the UC state schools are huge in Bangkok and Hong Kong.

Thanks for the info., kick-ass post!

[themanwithnoname]

yeah I don't want to oversell it: it will definitely be an uphill battle to get biglaw outside of a certain range, but not impossible. What firms have good Bangkok offices? I might be able to give some more information if I knew that.

[Contract2008]

themanwithnoname,

Very good points.  Just look at the attorney bios and you'll see many of them did not go to a Top 20 school.  But a powerhouse name (i.e. any of the Ivy's) will carry alot of weight no matter where you go.  I know Wisconsin and some of the UC state schools are huge in Bangkok and Hong Kong.

Thanks for the info., kick-ass post!

Wisconsin and UC state schools are in or near top 30, thus not far from top 20.   Anything beyond that, it's going to be very hard.  By the way, you don't know if those from Wisconsin or UC state schools are top 10%, law review members, etc. or not.  Maybe they all are.

[themanwithnoname]

You DEFINITELY do not need top 10% from UCLA to get biglaw.

[Contract2008]

You DEFINITELY do not need top 10% from UCLA to get biglaw.

First, we're talking about biglaw outside of US.  Second, we're talking about non-top 20 UC schools (read the above posts) and that would exclude UCLA.  And, third, the OP is not even talking about Tier 1 or even Tier 2 or Tier 3 that he is going to attend.