Professor Manuel A. Gomez - FIU Law, Florida International University, will present his paper LATIN AMERICAN LAWYERS HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

Abstract

The movement of legal actors between Latin America and the rest of the world has increased greatly during the last decades.  A growing number of Latin American lawyers are nowadays seeking admission in graduate legal programmes in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere to deepen their knowledge of foreign law and practice through study or work abroad to return home armed with—arguably—better skills, which make them more competitive.  At the same time, the political, economic, and social crises that have plagued some Latin American countries during the last decade or two have had an impact on the relationship between Latin American lawyers and their home countries.  The fear that the situation back home might not be professionally attractive and the massive deterioration in living conditions have motivated a growing number of Latin American lawyers to seek to stay abroad after completing their studies (Capriles and Pérez-Perdomo 2019).  As a result, more and more Latin American lawyers have decided to become permanently assimilated as legal professionals in foreign jurisdictions.  This phenomenon is the point of departure of my research, which explores the incentives that drive such professional migratory wave, and the obstacles confronted by prospective émigré Latin American lawyers during their transition in foreign countries.  I also focus on the changes that this reality brings to the legal professions and the legal cultures in both the “sending” and “receiving” states and to the globalization of legal professionals in general.