GENERAL OVERVIEW

Public international law is one of the fastest growing legal fields. The types of work and practice settings vary widely.

International legal work for the US government is carried out in numerous executive offices (e.g. the State Department, U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency – Office of International Affairs,  U.S. Department of Treasury – Office of Foreign Control, etc.), as well as various legislative committees (e.g. Senate Committee on International Activities, Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, House Committee on International Relations, etc.) International public service opportunities are also present in Constitutional Courts.

Legal work may be also done in a myriad of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). The United Nations is the organization which first comes to mind when considering a professional opportunity within IGOs. UN is the single largest intergovernmental organization in the world with 192 member states. The six organs which make up the United Nations are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. There are also fifteen agencies and several programs affiliated with the U.N., called the U.N. Family of Organizations. One may work for the U.N. in its New York headquarters, but also in offices located all over the world. Significant operations are carried out at the regional economic commissions in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva, Santiago and Vienna. Official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish; the Secretariat uses two working languages, English and French.

International and Regional Tribunals also do substantial public interest work. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Commission, the Counsel of Europe are other examples. Please click here for a full list of IGOs.

Private firms also provide opportunities for international public work. Many private public interest law firms and the “plaintiffs’ firms” work on many of the same issues addressed by not-for-profit public interest legal organizations and government agencies, but in a law firm setting. Some of these firms deal with international human rights, immigration, environmental or criminal issues. Occasionally, traditional private law firms also allow their lawyers to get engaged in international public service work through their pro-bono programs. Attorneys from firms such as Shearman & Sterling and Heller Ehrman have supported the work of several international criminal tribunals. One should note, however, that such opportunities are limited and that attorneys are expected to work a significant amount of billable hours on top of their pro bono effort.

Finally, there are thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout the world that focus on international issues, including but not limited to, children and education, criminal law, development, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, environment law, immigration, intellectual property, security, racial justice, and transitional justice. The NGOs vary enormously in purpose, size, scope of work, structure, resources, philosophy and working style. Besides global organizations, there are also regional and national level ones. NGOs may work on foreign or domestic issues or tackle problems that span international borders. Some organizations are very law-oriented, while others may do little or no legal work. Please see Sections III and V for more information.