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BY PAMELAWILSON

32 SAN DIEG0 LA\A/YEB N,4arch 'Atrrrl ?012

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oya Raha knew she wanted towork abroad after graduating fromCalifornia Western School of Law.With no job offer, she strategically

chose Geneva, Switzerland, and moved therein 2008. Her belief in and focus on her goalpaid off: For the past two years she has beenlegal counsel at the Geneva Chamber ofCom merce, admi nisteri ng internationa !

arbitration and mediation cases.

Licensed in New York state, Raha lovesthe excitement of working in Switzerland."lt's very global," she says. "More than 95percent of our cases involve non-Swiss par-

ties. And since Switzerland is in the heart ofEurope, it's easy to ca!! China or Singaporein the morning and the U.S. in the after-noon." Working at the chamber "provides an

unparalleled exposure to different cultures."San Diego attorneys working outside

the United States-whether for lengthystays or regular visits-often have forma-tive experiences in common. Many arefirst- or second-generation Americans whoabsorbed a love of cross-cultural experi-ences in childhood.

A partner at DLA Piper, Beni Surpincounsels international companies on intel-lectual property, technology and commer-cial transactions. Born in Brazil, Surpinlived in lsrael as a child and moved toEngland with his family at 12. After study-

ing law at Cambridge University, he

worked at a London firm, Norton Rose,before moving to San Diego, his wife'shome. lnternational experiences and con-nections naturally led Surpin to clientswhose work takes him al! over the world.

"A huge chunk of my practice is inter-national," the Oxford graduate says. "! goto China every three months. The next fourmonths, I wi!! be on a plane more oftenthan not. London, Greece, Nairobi , Brazil ...I achieve a heck of a lot more, face-to-face,than via e-mail. IFor] some deals to getfinalized, face-to-face goes a long way."

Like Surpin, Raha grew up exposed tomultiple cultures, living first in the UnitedStates and then in Canada. Her father wasfrom lndia, her mother from England, givingRaha family ties all over the world. But itwasn't just those connections; Raha

methodically prepared for an internationalcareer from a young age. She studied Span-ish in Mexico during high school, Frenchand ltalian in France and ltaly during col-lege, and she interned with a developmentagency in Cambodia. In law school shefocused on arbitration and mediation andauthored several journal articles related todomestic and international health issues.

Law students a nd attorneys interestedin working abroad can learn from Raha'sstrategies. "lt helps to have a strong under-

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standing of other countries' laws, via inter-nationa! law courses," she believes. "lt is

also important to focus on the type of lawthat interests you and then to research a

city where there are opportunities in thatarea." Geneva is well known as a neutralplatform for dispute resolution where arbi-tration is favored, so it was an ideal desti-nation for Raha's practice.

Despite a report in last November'sAmerican Bar Association Journal thatU.S. lawyers face heightened barriers topracticing abroad, many San Diegans havefound their law degrees and bar licenseshave opened doors to careers overseas.Most agree that fluency in at least one for-eign language vastly improves an attor-ney's chances of succeeding globally.Denise Pirrotti Hummel, a San Diego-based international business consultant,started foreign Ianguage study as a child."My father was very passionate about ltalyand took us there every vacation. He spokeItalian in the home, and ldeveloped a fas-cination about how other people !ive."

Pursuing that interest, Humme! landed a!ega! job based in London soon after shegraduated from American University andpassed the New York bar. After 13 years

of practice, mostly in the United States,Hummel and her family moved to ltaly foran immersion experience. A planned one-

MarchtApril 2012 SAN DIEG0 LAWYEB 33

BEIII SI|RPIII tmlil u

year stay stretched to three, and lessons

Iearned prompted Hummel to launch

Universal Consensus, the consulting busi-

ness that now atlows her to work across the

globe. lt's vital, she says, that attorneys and

businesspeople " u ndersta nd the u nderlying

cultural motivations of your counterpafts."

Hummel and other lawYers who work

internationally say business negotiationscan be derailed if Westerners fail to adapt

to local cultural expectations. 'What isgenerally considered American initiativehere has been translated as arrogance

abroad ," Humme! has found. "We are

taught as Americans to always convey 100

percent confidence in everything we do.

tButl that general demeanor is often trans-

lated as arrogance. One of the challenges

is adapting, localizing to the particular cul-

ture you are doing business in. lt takes

time, careful observation and training."Kam Li, a Hong Kong native and

University of San Diego law graduate, tack-

les cultural differences from the other direc-

tion, encouraging lawyers Iicensed in China

to think more like Westerners. A partner at

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, Li

spends much of his time in Asia, managing

teams of local attorneys who represent for-

eign companies doing business in China.

"There are significant differences in

the way we embrace the practice of law,"he says. 'China is a civil law country, [and

attorneys are trained tol 'go by the book,'

g4 SAN DIEG0 LAWYER March/April 2012

seldom creatively thinking." Conversely,

under U.S. and English common law sys-

tems, lawyers are taught to cite cases and

apply reasoning to resolve disputes. "They

do not do that in China," Li notes. "We

have to tell them, 'You are the advocate for

the client; you are no longer the advocate

for the state.'" At the same time, he

emphasizes, U.S. attorneys overseas must

be culturally sensitive. Li says,"You have to

treat Iresident attorneysl very carefully."Mexico City native Enrique Hernandez-

Pulido, also a partner at Procopio, has dis-

cerned cultural variations through his

cross-border work as well. "l have clients in

the U.S. l've never met or even spoken with

on the phone. I call them my cyber-clients,"

he says. ln contrast, "As to my Mexican cli-

ents, there is not one I haven't met person-

ally before being engaged by them. lt's not

enough-a phone call or even a video con-

ference. They want to see you, look you in

the eye, to establish a trust relationship."Hernandez-Pulido graduated from law

school in Mexico City, worked in tax and

f inance agencies and then entered the lnter-

national Tax Program at Harvard on a gov-

ernment scholarship. Upon his return to

Mexico, he was recruited to that country's

equivalent of the FDIC. There he helped liq-

uidate failed banks, "similar to what hap-

pened here just a few years ago." When

that project was complete, Hernandez-

Pulido thought seriously about his next

career move and ultimately decided he

wanted to work in the private sector.

"Procopio made the best and most

intriguing offer," he recalls, "practicing inter-

national tax planning." But it came with a

catch. "One minor issue, in my offer letter,

that I didn't pay too much attention to: They

wanted me to pass the California bar." With

self-deprecation, he now says, "Il thoughtl'How hard can that be?' lt took two years! I

had to study while working and raising a

family here. But it was a wise decision."

Licensed in Mexico and California,

Hernandez-Pulido regularly helps clients in

both jurisdictions. "sometimes l'm inMexico, and while there I am usually giving

advice on U.S. law. While I am here, I often

speak and advise on Mexican legal issues."

He also has clients who have business in

China and has been hired by Chinese cli-

ents with business in Mexico. " Once you

start working in this [international arena],

it just broadens, and some of your skills

are transferrable to other jurisdictions."

San Diego academics also findscholarly experiences abroad valuable.

Professor Linda Keller of Thomas

Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) is currentlya visiting professional at the lnternationalCriminal Court (lCC) in The Hague,

Netherlands. Keller will spend six monthsas a research attorney for a presidingjudge in the pre-trial criminal division. This

January, her chambers issued decisions

charging four Kenyan leaders with crimesagainst humanity, arising from violentclashes after Kenya's 2007 presidentialelection that left more than 1,000 peopledead and 600,000 displaced.

At the lCC, Keller has "the chance towork on important cases with an amazingarray of lawyers f rom across the world. "She looks forward to bringing her experi-ences back here. "Students in my interna-tional criminal Iaw class and other classeswill benefit from my greater understand-ing of how the ICC actually works. I expectit will also contribute to my scholarship oninternational criminal la\^y'."

Since 2002, Professor WilliamSlomanson, also at TJSL, has spent sum-mers in the Republic of Kosovo as a visit-ing professor at Pristina University.Funded by the Netherlands government,the program supports educational reformin former Yugoslavian republics that weredevastated by war and ethnic violence inthe 1990s. The work is a perfect fit forSlomanson, who first became interestedin post-conflict societies during his Navyservice. Now in his 30th year of teaching,Slomanson is currently preparing the sev-enth edition of his textbook, FundamentalPerspectives on I nternational Law.

For students and attorneys consideringwork overseas, Slomanson has practical

advice. "Major in a foreign language or his-tory. Take the civil service exam, or go intoJAG [the Judge Advocate General's Corpsl.Join the international sections of the San

Diego County Bar Association and the WorldTrade Association." Opportunities can be

found in the military, intelligence agencies,diplomacy or the State Department. Private-sector options are also expanding. "Anincreasing percentage of law firms haveinternational practices," he says. With eightU.S. states adjacent to Mexico, firms are"doing more and more cross-border work."

Slomanson is a devoted advocate forcross-cultural experiences and maintains a

listing of global legal career resources atwww.tjsl.ed u/sIoma nson blcareer. htm l. "Thegreatest value I have derived from my inter-nationa! work over the years-teachingabroad, dealing with foreign diplomats andeducators- has been the mutual exchangeof ideas and values, which suggests thatthe perceived differences are far greaterthan actual differences," he says. "At theend of the day, we are all members of the

same family." $.*

Pa m el a Wi lso n ( pwi I so n@p a m el awi I so n I awyer.

com) is with the Law Office of Pamela LawtonWilson.

The SDCBA's lnternational Law Section

is co-chaired by Karla Pinckes(ka rl a. pi nckes@ken bla nch a rd.co m ) a nd La m i a

Dalichaouch (ldalichaouc@gmail.com).

email : kolahlaw(Dlau,fi rmofsandiego. comwebsite : www.lawfi rmofsandiego.com

MAS in Health Law

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March/April 2012 SAN DIEG0 LAWYER 35