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Careers in Transit: What it is like for legal professionals…
Careers
Careers in Transit: What it is like for legal professionals to dwell overseas
By Danielle Braff
July 30, 2025, 1:57 pm CDT
Heather Bustos, managing accomplice of the Bustos Regulation Group within the Woodlands, Texas, moved to Valencia, Spain, in July 2024, shortly after Spain opened its digital nomad visa, which permits foreigners to dwell in Spain whereas working for a world firm. (Picture by Christopher Bustos)
Heather Clauson Haughian spent years constructing her authorized observe in Destin, Florida, however when her husband’s job as an Air Drive particular operations pilot took them to England, she discovered herself at a crossroads. She may begin over, shift fields or go away the legislation behind solely.
Haughian, who efficiently tackled cultural and authorized shifts to maneuver overseas, displays a rising pattern amongst People searching for alternatives abroad amid political uncertainty.
Whereas U.S. residents aren’t required to register their presence overseas, making it tough to collect statistics on this, a Monmouth College ballot discovered that as of 2024, 34% of People mentioned they might transfer overseas if they might afford it. That is fairly a change from the ten% of People who wished to maneuver overseas 50 years in the past, in accordance with the Gallup Group. Based on the U.S. State Division, about 9 million People are presently dwelling overseas.
For attorneys, the transfer overseas might be tough, relying on whether or not you’re planning on nonetheless training U.S. legislation abroad or whether or not you’d wish to get admitted in a brand new nation so you may observe that nation’s legislation.
Haughian moved to Cambridge in 2004, and she or he determined to take the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, which is the UK’s equal of the bar examination (which she had already handed in the US).
“Passing the SQE meant I may qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales and work for a British legislation agency, reasonably than being restricted to a U.S. agency with a U.Ok. workplace,” says Haughian, who rapidly landed a place with Eversheds earlier than its merger with Sutherland in its Cambridge workplace.
Whereas the transition was legally and technically very clean—she didn’t must undergo the visa software course of since she was a army partner beneath the Standing of Forces Settlement—Haughian did have to right away alter to cultural variations. Coming from a conventional legislation agency in Atlanta the place skirt fits had been the norm, Haughian wished to substantiate the costume code at her new agency. She emailed her soon-to-be boss to ask if girls had been allowed to put on pants within the workplace.
“What I didn’t notice on the time was that in British English, ‘pants’ means underwear,” she says. “His witty reply: ‘Whereas they aren’t required, pants are extremely inspired.’”
She rapidly made the adjustment to British English and was completely happy to be taught in regards to the English way of life.
The authorized profession construction and strategy to billable hours in England is completely different from that in the US. On the solicitor degree, the annual billable goal was simply 1,350 hours—a stark distinction to the two,000-plus hour necessities usually anticipated at U.S. companies. Upon changing into an affiliate, the billable hour goal elevated to 1,500 hours, which Haughian says remains to be a welcome aid in comparison with the calls for of American companies.
One other refreshing change: the holiday tradition. At her agency, each legal professional was anticipated to take their full 4 weeks of trip, and companies strongly inspired taking no less than two consecutive weeks to completely disconnect.
“In contrast to in lots of U.S. companies, the place attorneys usually really feel responsible for stepping away from work, British companies genuinely prioritized work-life steadiness,” Haughian says.
Others have comparable emotions. Heather Bustos, managing accomplice of the Bustos Regulation Group within the Woodlands, Texas, moved to Valencia, Spain, in July 2024, shortly after Spain opened its digital nomad visa (this permits foreigners to dwell in Spain whereas working for a world firm).
It took six months of planning, which included downsizing, placing belongings in storage and promoting the vehicles as she and her husband ready to maneuver with their two kids. It took numerous effort to collect paperwork for the visa course of, however since she is beneath a digital nomad visa that doesn’t permit her to supply authorized work straight from a Spanish firm, it was comparatively simple to acquire. She additionally needed to get a pet passport.
One factor that made the method a lot less complicated, nevertheless, was persevering with to work for a U.S.-based legislation agency topic to U.S. guidelines, so there have been no authorized hoops when it comes to her legal professional position.
Whereas the transfer went very easily, an enormous problem Bustos confronted was the time distinction, particularly when it got here to her California shoppers who had been simply waking when she was winding down the day.
Nonetheless, she says, “I want I had finished it sooner. When you’ve got the choice to work remotely in a rustic with a slower tempo of life, it makes your job as an legal professional a lot much less demanding.”
Life-changing alternative
One thing that makes life much less demanding? Stewart Patton, a world tax legal professional, discovered the reply to be “Belize.”
He moved there from Chicago in 2013 as a result of he was uninterested in the BigLaw way of life. Patton was a accomplice at Kirkland & Ellis, and earlier than he moved, he not often noticed his household on weekdays.So, he determined to open his personal observe.
The toughest half was the paperwork, says Patton, who opted to not grow to be a member of the bar in Belize, as he doesn’t observe Belize legislation. He did get caught in a loop the place he wanted to get a piece allow to begin working—however getting a piece allow required him to register for earnings tax. To do this, he wanted to get a commerce license, however he may solely get a commerce license if he had a piece allow.
“By some means, a kind of workplaces lastly determined to let me by way of,” he says. “All in all, Belize makes it fairly simple to maneuver right here.”
In the present day, life is sweet for Patton. He makes his personal schedule, so he will get to see his household every day. He additionally has his personal agency and his personal shoppers, so he might be extra artistic with the observe. He discovered that it’s a lot simpler to do flat-fee work and different strategies that don’t match the BigLaw mannequin.
The benefit of life and the authorized transformation could be very completely different relying on the place you land, nevertheless. Dee Dee Fischer, who beforehand labored for Sidley Austin in Miami and is now working as a accomplice for a similar agency in Singapore since 2023, struggled with practice-related challenges.
U.S. litigators can’t seem in Singaporean courts, she says. Plus, her caseload included circumstances from the US and from Asia, however with a 13-hour time distinction, she’s had her justifiable share of early-morning calls and late-night Zoom conferences.
Her schedule has modified too. In the US, she had been doing numerous class motion work, along with her days revolving round movement observe and depositions. In Singapore, she focuses on counsel: addressing questions on potential disputes and learn how to keep away from them, reasonably than really litigating circumstances which have been filed.
“Purchasers on this area appear to me to be much more avoidant of litigation or arbitration than U.S. shoppers are,” says Fischer. “And it’s been essential for me to be delicate to that, and their want to keep away from the prices and disruption of authorized battle.”
Rebuilding an expert community overseas may also be tough, as Tristan Bramble found when he relocated to London in 2018 through a heritage passport, which gives citizenship by ancestry. However after becoming a member of the group American-Certified Legal professionals in London—he’s now on the steering committee—he rapidly tailored.
Attorneys interviewed for the story typically agree that attorneys ought to go overseas if ever given the possibility.
“It has been completely life-changing, and one of the vital significant issues I’ve finished in my profession,” Fischer says. “If you happen to get the chance, do it.”
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