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While speaking a foreign language is helpful, understanding the local culture and customs can be even more important, especially in legal proceedings like depositions. Americans are typically blunt and direct, especially in depositions, where their lawyers constantly instruct them to “just answer the question.” In some cultures, indirect answers are the norm; indeed directness is considered rude. In other cultures, an answer cannot be given without a dramatic flourish. In Nigeria, for instance, there is a long tradition of oral storytelling. During one deposition, in response to a direct and simple question, the witness began a long story, complete with verbal and facial gestures to act out the scene. In some countries, a witness’ statement is not final until a long process of negotiation between the examining magistrate and the witness has produced the precise words that both agree constitute the witness’ statement.
Notions of hospitality differ around the world and can be a source of endless confusion and concern for Americans doing business overseas. Government officials as well as businessmen often bestow gifts upon their guests as an expected token of respect and welcome. But depending on the circumstances, these signs of hospitality can create legal issues for the guests as well as the hosts. The important thing is to recognize the difference between a legitimate gift and a bribe. To give a token of respect is fine; to offer a gift in exchange for specific action is not.
The best part about the practice of law for me has always been the opportunities it presents to meet and talk to people of all types, and to see how different people behave under different and often stressful circumstances. To take the practice on the road makes it all the more entertaining and enlightening.
Martha Boersch, a partner in the San Francisco office of Jones Day, has practiced corporate criminal and complex civil litigation in many parts of the world. She now represents individuals and companies in criminal and civil enforcement matters. Previously, she was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of California, serving as chief of the Securities Fraud Unit from 2001 to 2002 and chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force from 2002 to 2004.
It’s worldly. It’s glamorous (Hong Kong Monday/Tuesday, Singapore Wednesday/Thursday). It’s the legal professional’s jet set, although instead of going to the all-night parties attended by infamous heiresses, I can start responding to e-mails from Europe in the morning when I awake, and making inquiries to Asia in the evening before going to sleep � or vice versa while on the other continent. The sun really doesn’t set on the international lawyer, particularly when my firm, Baker & McKenzie, has offices in 38 countries and clients virtually everywhere.
There is, however, perhaps a “protocol” to practicing law in the international arena that makes me feel as if I need to sit up straight and brush off the “Emily Post Book of Etiquette” that my mother had forced me to read as a young girl brought up in the South but for which, until practicing internationally, I had seen little relevance. I have learned that R.S.V.P. really means, please respond and keep to your commitment. I casually responded “yes” to an R.S.V.P. to attend a holiday party for the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese client and almost, at the last minute, considered no-showing. Happily, I didn’t, as upon arriving at the event I saw that my name, “Jackson-san,” had been prominently displayed on a placard at the head table on the stage, indicating my place next to the visiting C.E.O. of the Japanese company. My no-show would have been anything but invisible.
Both male and female international lawyers learn quickly that 2/8/07 means February 8 to an American and August 2 to most of the world. One learns quickly to specify the time zone for a conference call or meeting, and to provide budgets in unambiguously stated currency. One learns that what you thought was speaking and writing “English” is really “American,” and that suddenly you find yourself spelling “labor” as “labour.”
While one might anticipate that the cultural differences among countries present obstacles to women attorneys, I have found that clients are clients everywhere: They have questions that need thoughtful and practical answers in the environments in which they operate; problems to solve, often under a multitude of jurisprudence, cultural contexts and commercial norms; and crises to address, frequently across time zones and international datelines. When a multinational needs legal advice, I’m a lawyer. Period.
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