My life back home after LLM and OPT are done

By vnukoff in LL.M. - NY Bar - OPT in NYC - Home on Jul 26, 2014

Ok... I graduated in 2012, was admitted to the NY bar in 2013 and my OPT finished August 2013. Now it is 2014 and I am in Moscow, Russia, being an in-house lawyer at an international company.

Here are some hindsight thoughts:

1. LLM was soooooooo useful. And my experience as an associate at a law firm in NYC during my OPT year was even more useful. My horizons widened, and I feel like I come up with better solutions just because I know that lawyers in the US would do it this way. The NYC way should be changed according to the specifics of Russian law and culture (or rather, lack of culture).

2. My interaction with international colleagues-lawyers who were trained in the common law systems is more productive because we speak pretty much the same language.

3. Time-management and organization that I have learned in the US is outstanding. I feel like after the US law school the bar exam experience, nothing is impossible! Multitasking, ten different researches, a couple of "extremely urgent" requests, no time for anything, a small talk with colleagues, conference calls, run in a park - all this happening pretty much in the same time. But there is nothing special about it for a US lawyer, we all know how it works!

4. IRAC or CRAC. This is a total hit. I write everything in Russian using this structure and everyone loves it! And the sweetest part of it is, I don't even sweat to structure my writing this way, it just comes out naturally.

All in all, my LLM experience has been very useful for my professional life. I don't know if this is the way to stay in the US... It really is pretty challenging and it depends on your luck. Having said that, it is not impossible. I would suggest to go ahead and try it. Will be happy to answer any questions and share my experience, I hope it will help.