Tej Kohli US and Career in Law for Indians

Tej Kohli brings some more insightful information Legal Career.

If you’re looking for a career that is equally interesting as rewarding, Law is your forte. In my last post I discussed a number of specialization options in Corporate Law. As a lawyer, you can offer advisory services on various issues. Law as a career offers tremendous growth both monetarily and in terms of job satisfaction.

To start with you can take on the job of a solicitor

What does a solicitor do??
Generally, Solicitors offers consultation on legal matters. They are in fact the first point of contact for people or bodies looking for professional legal advice. Scope in solicitation ranges from private practice to working in central and local government, or 'in-house' in a commercial or industrial organization.

Barrister is another important species of lawyers,
Barrister’s scope of work includes:
This tribe of lawyers always remains at the forefront. Specifically, they represent clients in the court other than just giving advice. Solicitors and Barristers work in an ascending hierarchy. Barristers’ work starts where solicitors’ work ends. Solicitor provides information and instructions to barrister. While not representing clients at court, they spend their time preparing arguments for their cases.

There are three main categories of employers for whom one can practice international law; the
government, private firm practice, and the legal department of a corporation.

Tej Kohli Career in Law Blog brings the complete information.

GOVERNMENT

There are opportunities, primarily in Washington, D.C., in several federal departments: Justice, State, Commerce, Labor, Office of U.S. Trade Representation, Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission.
One can practice international law within several different divisions in the Justice Department:
Criminal - immigration and extradition
Tax - international business transactions
Environmental - antidumping issues
Antitrust - policy formation and prosecution

The Commerce Dept. offers additional opportunities since it administers the government's
antidumping trade policies.

The Judge Advocate General Corps provides legal counsel to the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force
divisions of the military. These positions are extremely competitive and require service with the military (varies according to military branch), yet allow for ample opportunities to travel and live abroad.


PRIVATE LAW FIRMS

Many large firms practice in all aspects of international business transactions, including regulatory compliance and tax issues, and have branch offices overseas.
When practicing at a larger firm, a lawyer practices domestic law - securities, tax, real estate - or regulatory law - customs, ant iboycott, food & drug - for foreign clients.
There has been growth in small boutique firms specializing in customs and international trade
practices. These firms represent businesses, importers/exporters, retailers/wholesalers, and U.S.subsidiaries of foreign businesses. These firms tend to be concentrated geographically in N.Y.C.,Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami, or cities where the decision makers (federal regulatory agencies) are located.

CORPORATE LAW DEPARTMENTS

The international law practice in a corporate law department is similar to that in private firm practice. The advantage of working in a corporate law department is that the client is the company and the company's employees; so an attorney does not have to worry about bringing in business.

With the coming of Google Health, the question of health care security becomes even more critical. The online service initiated by Google, is a portal that stores users’ uploaded health records, provides information and acts as an interface between them and their doctors.

The service, will definitely attract the wrong kind of customer – hackers trying to get into what for them represents a treasure of data.

The last thing a sick person wants is to worry about is the security of his/her data.

This story at SC Magazine begins by pointing out that hospitals are inviting targets for hackers because they offer the “golden combination” of things they seek: names, SSN's and birth dates. The report, which got input from 263 IT executives and CSOs, found that in 2006/2007 more than 1.5 million names were breached in hospitals. The HIMSS report found a lack of awareness among professionals and vague language in laws and regulations. The piece offers interesting numbers, including the fact that little more than half — 56 percent — of respondents whose institutions experienced a breach notified patients.

The challenge is growing. SecureWorks, a security software-as-a-service company, reports an 85 percent increase on hacker attacks. According to this piece, it says there were an average of 11,146 incidents per client perday in the first half of last year. That number has risen to 20,630 per client per day in the last half of the year through January 2008. The report traces an increase in “client-side attacks” and notes that health care organizations hold a tremendous amount of information attractive to criminals and are burdened with a high level of “attack surfaces.”

There are many ways in which criminals attack health care institutions. A report from Absolute Software – after pointing to the scary statistic that there were 46 data breaches in the United States involving 62 stolen and lost computers and resulting in nearly 5 million compromised identities in 2007 – lists the five top risky activities. I’ve Been Mugged carries the list: They are the failure to go beyond encryption in protection schemes; the inability to adequately manage mobile devices; the use of public terminals for sensitive information; the lack of a data-security plan; and the lack of data -breach policies.

Read more articles on business, finance and lifestyle by Navtej Kohli. Also read the different reviews written by Navtej Kohli here on Yelp.